西班牙多名婴儿出现奇怪的“狼人综合症”

西班牙多名婴儿出现奇怪的“狼人综合症”

Spanish pharmaceutical manufacturer Farma-Química Sur is facing trial for their role in an outbreak of unusual hair growth in infants across the country.

西班牙制药商Farma-Quimica Sur因其在全国婴儿异常毛发生长中所起的作用而面临审判。

Parents feared the worst when their children developed a condition informally referred to as 'werewolf syndrome' as a result of drinking a medicated syrup produced by the company.

家长们最担心的是，他们的孩子因为喝了该公司生产的药物糖浆，而患上了一种非正式的“狼人综合症”。

More appropriately known as hypertrichosis, the condition is characterised by thicker, denser patterns of body hair sprouting from areas of the body usually covered by a finer fuzz.

更确切地说，这种疾病被称为多毛症，其特征是身体毛发较厚、较密集，从身体通常被较细的绒毛覆盖的部位长出。

Historically, people with more extreme versions of the rare trait attracted the sort of attention that would get them ostracised and outcast, or ending up in side-shows under unflattering descriptions as wolf-children.

从历史上看，具有这种罕见特征的极端版本的人吸引了人们的注意，这种关注会让他们被排斥，或者最终在《狼孩》这样的书中被冷嘲热讽地描述为配角。

Times may have changed, but for the concerned parents, drastic hair growth in a baby can still come as quite the shock.

时代也许已经改变了，但对于忧心忡忡的父母来说，婴儿头发的急剧生长仍然会让他们感到相当震惊。

"My son's forehead, cheeks, arms and legs, hands became covered in hair," mother Ángela Selles told the Spanish daily newspaper, El País.

“我儿子的前额，脸颊，胳膊和腿，手上都长满了头发。”母亲昂格拉·赛尔斯对西班牙日报说。

"He had the eyebrows of an adult. It was very scary because we didn't know what was happening to him."

“他有着成年人的眉毛。很可怕，因为我们不知道他发生了什么。”

Selles' six-month-old son was just one of 17 babies diagnosed with an acquired form of hypertrichosis in recent months across the regions of Cantabria, Valencia, Andalusia, and Granada.

最近几个月，在坎塔布里亚、瓦伦西亚、安达卢西亚和格拉纳达地区，塞拉斯仅仅6个月大的儿子，是17个被诊断患有后天性多毛症的婴儿之一。

Degrees of excess hair growth can run in families as a genetic trait, but this congenital form of the condition is usually fairly clear from birth. So, when children close to two years of age were being reported with thickened patches of hair on areas such as their face, Spain's health regulator AEMPS opened an investigation to trace the cause.

毛发过度生长的程度可以作为一种遗传特征在家族中运行，但这种先天性的疾病通常从出生起就相当明显。因此，当接近两岁的儿童被报告在面部等部位出现浓密的毛发时，西班牙的健康监管机构AEMPS展开了一项调查，以追踪原因。

It didn't take officials long to find the infants had something in common – all were being treated with a medication for acid reflux called omeprazole.

工作人员很快就发现这些婴儿有一些共同点——他们都在接受一种叫做奥美拉唑的治疗胃酸倒流的药物治疗。

The only problem is omeprazole isn't known for causing excess hair growth. So inspectors were sent to the factory where the drug originated to see if they could work out what was going on.

唯一的问题是奥美拉唑不会导致毛发过度生长。因此，检查人员被派往药品的生产厂，看看他们能否查出发生了什么。

"The original shipment of bulk omeprazole from India was analysed and the results showed that it was in perfect condition," Spanish health regulators told El País.

西班牙卫生监管机构告诉El-PA_s说：“对从印度运来的散装奥美拉唑进行了分析，结果表明，奥美拉唑完好无损。”

"The problem was when it was divided into small batches that were later also sold in bulk."

“问题是，当它被分成小批量，后来也批量销售。”

Somewhere in the process, bottles containing a different drug, minoxidil - commonly used to treat hair-loss conditions such as male pattern baldness and alopecia - ended up receiving the omeprazole label and being sold as such.

在这个过程中的某个地方，含有不同药物的瓶子——米诺地尔-通常用于治疗脱发情况，如男性型秃头和脱发——最终收到了奥美拉唑标签，并以此出售。

AEMPS directed the company to withdraw one of the batches of the medication back in July, but has since closed the factory for failure to comply with standards on drug production.

美国药品监督管理局(AEMPS)在7月份指示该公司撤回其中一批药物，但因不符合药品生产标准而关闭了工厂。

If Farma-Química Sur doesn't clean up its act within the next six months, the company could have its license to produce and distribute pharmaceuticals revoked.

如果Farma Qu_mica Sur在未来六个月内不清理其行为，该公司可能会吊销其生产和销售药品的许可证。

Meanwhile, families are still less than impressed, with four having launched criminal proceedings against the company for the mix up. A public prosecution case is also underway.

与此同时，受害家庭不会就此放手，其中四个已经对公司提起了刑事诉讼。一个公诉案件也在进行中。

Fortunately for the children, the medical mishap shouldn't leave them with any long-term health problems.

幸运的是，对孩子们来说，医疗事故不会给他们留下任何长期的健康问题。

"They have done several tests and for now the liver is the only thing that is not great, but they have told us that it is not serious and that it will regenerate," says Selles.

赛尔斯表示：“他们做了几次检查，目前唯一不太好的是肝脏，但问题不严重，肝脏会再生。”

As for their body hair, it is also expected to thin out over the coming months.

至于他们的体毛，预计在未来几个月会慢慢变少。