来自这个古老的爱尔兰教堂的泥土确实有治愈的功效

来自这个古老的爱尔兰教堂的泥土确实有治愈的功效

When residents of Northern Ireland's County Fermanagh have a health issue, particularly an infection, they turn to the church.

当北爱尔兰弗马纳郡的居民出现健康问题，尤其是感染时，他们会求助于教堂。

And the church gives them dirt. But the Sacred Heart Church in the town of Boho doesn't dole out just any dirt. The soil taken from its churchyard has long been known for its restorative properties — an uncanny ability to fight infection.

教堂给他们泥土。但是波西米亚小镇上的圣心教堂并不仅仅施舍泥土。长期以来，从教堂墓地里挖出来的泥土以其修复功能而闻名——一种不可思议的抗感染能力。

This is the graveyard at Sacred Heart Church overlooking the Boho countryside. According to local belief, the soil from the church can cure infections. (Photo: Youngbohemian [public domain]/Wikimedia Commons)

As the BBC reports, a person only has to wrap the soil in cloth and place it under the pillow. A prayer or two doesn't hurt. And by morning, that infection is in full retreat.

据英国广播公司报道，人们只需要用布把泥土包裹起来，然后放在枕头下。祈祷一两句也无妨。到了早上，感染就完全消退了。

Just remember: The church, like a library, asks that its miracle soil be returned.

只要记住:教会就像图书馆一样，要求归还它那神奇的泥土。

But is it really a miracle? Or is the soil steeped in the mysticism of the druids who occupied the land before the church was built?

但这真的是一个奇迹吗?还是土壤浸透了德鲁伊教的神秘主义，他们在教堂建造之前就占领了这片土地?

Or is there a perfectly good scientific explanation for that potent Irish soil?

或者对于爱尔兰的土地有一个完美的科学解释吗?

Back in 2018, microbiologist Gerry Smith and other researchers from Swansea University Medical School suspected the latter. And sure enough, after a thorough lab analysis, they identified not so much the hand of God at work, but rather the hand of sod.

早在2018年，斯旺西大学医学院的微生物学家格里·史密斯和其他研究人员就怀疑是后者。毫无疑问，经过彻底的实验室分析，他们发现的与其说是上帝之手，还不如说是超氧化物歧化酶之手。

Streptomyces are true bacteria and are the source of two-thirds of the various frontline antibiotics used in medicine. What you see here is growth of Streptomyces sp. myrophorea. (Photo: G Quinn/Swansea University)

They found the ground surrounding the church teeming with a new strain of bacterium — a powerful inhibitor of infection belonging to the family Streptomycetaceae.

他们发现教堂周围的地面充满了一种新的细菌——一种属于链霉菌科的强大的感染抑制剂。

That's the same bacteria strain used to produce antibiotics. Indeed, in test results published in Frontiers in Microbiology, the church's "healing soil" managed to kill several disease-causing organisms, including some that antibiotics couldn't control.

这是用来生产抗生素的同一种细菌。事实上，在发表在《微生物学前沿》杂志上的测试结果中，教会的“愈合土壤”成功杀死了几种致病微生物，其中包括一些抗生素无法控制的微生物。

As the BBC notes, it was effective against pathogens identified by the World Health Organization as major threats to human health.

正如英国广播公司(BBC)所指出的，它对世界卫生组织认定的威胁人类健康的主要病原体是有效的。

"When we brought the soil back to the laboratory we found a new species of streptomyces that had never been discovered before and it contained many antibiotics and some of these antibiotics actually killed some multi-resistant pathogens," Smith told the news organization. "Originally I was surprised as it was a folk remedy and there seemed to be a lot of superstition around it, but in the back of my head I realized that there's always something behind these traditions or they wouldn't be going on so long."

“当我们把土壤带回实验室时，我们发现了一种新的链球菌，这是以前从未发现过的，它含有许多抗生素，其中一些抗生素实际上杀死了一些具有多重耐药性的病原体，”史密斯告诉该新闻机构。“起初我很惊讶，因为这是一种民间疗法，似乎有很多迷信围绕着它，但在我的脑海里，我意识到这些传统背后总有一些东西，否则它们不会持续这么久。”

In fact, it's likely the churchyard soil has been clearing up potentially deadly infections — and saving lives — since the time of the druids. After all, centuries before the advent of antibiotics, simple infections killed countless people.

事实上，从德鲁伊时代开始，教堂墓地的土壤就一直在清除潜在的致命感染，并拯救生命。毕竟，在抗生素出现之前的几个世纪，简单的感染就夺去了无数人的生命。

And with more and more people becoming resistant to antibiotics, superbugs are taking an increasingly deadly toll.

随着越来越多的人开始对抗生素产生抗药性，超级细菌正造成越来越多的死亡。

Which is why scientists are heeding the wisdom of the saints. Or druids. Or farmers. And looking more closely at the Earth as a source of healing.

这就是为什么科学家们注意圣人的智慧。或德鲁伊。或者农民。更近距离地观察地球，将其视为疗愈之源。

"Our results show that folklore and traditional medicines are worth investigating in the search for new antibiotics," notes molecular biologist and study-co-author Paul Dyson in a press release.

“我们的研究结果表明，在寻找新的抗生素的过程中，民间传说和传统药物值得研究，”分子生物学家、该研究的合著者保罗·戴森在一份新闻稿中写道。

"Scientists, historians and archaeologists can all have something to contribute to this task."

“科学家、历史学家和考古学家都可以为这项任务做出贡献。”