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Snakes still kill tens of thousands of people each year.
每年仍有成千上万人丧命于毒蛇之口。
Giving the antidote quickly can be the difference between life and death.
而能否快速接受解毒剂治疗直接关乎生死。
But many bite victims cannot identify the species of their slithering assailants.
但很多被咬伤的受害者甚至无法辨认这些蛇的种类。
Which leaves health care workers to make educated guesses about treatment.
这就造成医护工作者们在进行治疗时只能依照过往经验推测。
Now a first-of-its-kind study finds that it's possible to analyze snake DNA left in the victim's wound to identify the snake—and thus the correct antivenom.
而现在一项史无前例的研究发现通过分析留在受害者伤口内的DNA可以鉴定蛇的种类—从而能够进一步提供解毒剂。
The preliminary findings were presented November 4th at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans.
这项初步发现是在11月4日新奥尔良召开的美国热带医学与卫生学会上提出。
Researchers collected samples from fang wounds from 749 people at three health centers in Nepal.
研究人员从尼泊尔3家卫生中心的749名伤者身上提取了伤口样本。
They isolated snake DNA, sequenced it and compared it to sequences in a snake DNA database.
他们分离出DNA，进行排序，然后在蛇的DNA数据库中的进行比较筛选。
Ultimately they managed to identify snakes responsible for 194 bites, 87 of which had harmful venom.
最终他们成功鉴别出咬伤194名伤者的凶手，而其中87种带有毒液。
Such intricate genetic analysis is still not available in most settings, but could lead to speedier diagnostic methods for bite victims.
这种复杂的基因分析在大多数情况下仍不可行，但能加快伤者的处理。
The research team hopes to devise a fast test that would at least rule out certain common venomous snakes.
研究小组希望能够设计出一种快速排除常见毒蛇的测试。
The test would analyze DNA along bite marks and scan it for telltale signs of specific poisonous predators.
这种测试可通过咬痕分析DNA，然后进行扫描找出特定毒蛇的特征。
