华盛顿——有报道称，俄罗斯伊尔库茨克地区一家鼠疫研究所的一名女员工死于该疾病，这引发了北美网民对该病可能治疗方法的高度关注。
WASHINGTON - Reports that a woman employed at a plague research institute in Russia’s Irkutsk region died from the disease has spiked online interest in possible treatments for the illness in North America.
俄罗斯尚未证实这名女子死于鼠疫，当地州长于10月8日表示，在追踪了她所有的密切接触者后，并未发现任何健康问题。
Russia has not confirmed the woman died of plague and the governor of the local region said on Oct 8 that no health issues were detected after all her contacts were traced.
但在社交媒体上，网红和末日“预备者”正大力兜售一套售价300美元（约合384新元）的急救包，并声称这能帮助人们避免前往急诊室。
But on social media, influencers and doomsday “preppers” are pushing the necessity of purchasing a US$300 (S$384) kit claimed to help people avoid emergency room visits.
“不要等到所有人都争先恐后时才行动。在需要之前做好准备，”一段观看次数超过16.1万次的Facebook视频配文写道，视频中带有#俄罗斯等话题标签。这些帖子还附带了个性化折扣码，暗示创作者可能会在产生购买行为时获得经济报酬。
“Don’t wait until everybody is scrambling. Prepare before you need it,” says the caption of a Facebook video viewed more than 161,000 times under the hashtags #Russia and The posts include personalised discount codes, suggesting the creators may receive financial compensation if a purchase is made.
根据谷歌趋势（Google Trends）的数据，许多视频中推广的The Wellness Company品牌随后的网络搜索量激增。
The Wellness Company brand promoted in many of the videos saw a subsequent spike in online searches, according to Google Trends data.
该公司的代言人是美国心脏病专家彼得·麦卡洛（Peter McCullough），他曾宣扬新冠疫情阴谋论以及已被法新社（AFP）辟谣的虚假健康信息。该公司未立即回复关于这些急救包的置评请求。
The company is fronted by Peter McCullough, an American cardiologist who has promoted Covid-19 conspiracies and health misinformation debunked by AFP. It did not immediately respond to questions about the kits.
罗根·奥汉雷（Rogan O’Handley）在社交媒体上以“DC Draino”之名活跃，他向自己290万名粉丝重点介绍了该急救包中包含的抗生素强力霉素（doxycycline）。
Rogan O’Handley, known on social media as DC Draino, highlighted the kit’s inclusion of the antibiotic doxycycline to his 2.9 million followers.
这种抗生素是每年都会出现病例的国家用来治疗鼠疫、帮助控制疫情爆发的药物之一。
The antibiotic is among those used to treat plague in countries that see cases each year, helping to contain outbreaks.
多伦多综合医院的传染病专家艾萨克·博戈奇（Isaac Bogoch）表示：“我们知道该如何治疗它。”
“We know how to treat it,” said Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto General Hospital.
他说：“显而易见，这可能是一种非常严重的感染，”但他警告称，在没有明确接触史的情况下切勿盲目服用一个疗程的抗生素。
“Obviously, it can be a very severe infection,” he said, but he warned against taking a course of antibiotics without known exposure.
他表示，俄罗斯这一未经证实病例“并不是那种会引发大流行的感染类型”。北亚利桑那大学鼠疫研究员兼教授保罗·凯姆（Paul Keim）也表示，北美民众没有任何理由开始服用强力霉素。
He said the unconfirmed case in Russia “isn’t the type of infection that would cause a pandemic.”Paul Keim, plague researcher and professor at Northern Arizona University, also said there is no reason for people in North America to start taking doxycycline.
“你正在改变肠道微生物群，或许还会在体内培养出对抗生素具有耐药性的细菌，而一旦你下次真正需要药物疗法时，这些细菌就会对抗药物，”他说。
“You’re altering the microbiome of your gut, and perhaps creating antibiotic resistant bacteria in your body that will fight off the drug therapy the next time you really need it,” he said.
无效的疗法 这些试剂盒据称还包含“难以获取”的处方药，例如伊维菌素。但凯姆表示：“伊维菌素从来都不是用于治疗细菌性疾病的。”
Ineffective remedies The kits are also said to include “hard-to-find” prescription medications such as ivermectin. But “ivermectin is never really used for a bacterial disease,” Keim said.
这种抗寄生虫药物仅获美国食品药品监督管理局批准用于治疗蠕虫病。
The anti-parasitic drug is only approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat worm diseases.
然而，它仍然是健康类虚假信息中备受推崇的“首选方案”——部分原因是，在临床试验失败后，相关机构曾将其排除在有效新冠治疗手段之外。
Yet, it continues to be the go-to solution touted in health misinformation – in part because authorities dismissed it as an effective treatment for Covid-19 following unsuccessful clinical trials.
这并非首个引发公众健康担忧、进而促使人们提供未经证实医疗方案的事件。
This is not the first public health concern that prompted individuals to offer unproven medical solutions.
今年5月，当一艘邮轮乘客感染罕见的汉坦病毒时，相关报道也立即将伊维菌素吹捧为“治愈方法”，尽管目前尚无已知疗法。
When a cruise ship passenger contracted the rare hantavirus in May, accounts also immediately touted ivermectin as a “cure” even while there is no known treatment.
在2026年刚果民主共和国爆发的埃博拉疫情中，尽管维生素D3和锌无法治疗该病，但一些销售补充剂的平台仍传播医生推荐这两种物质的视频。
Amid the 2026 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, videos of a doctor recommending Vitamin D3 and zinc spread from accounts selling supplements, despite these being unable to treat the disease.
“每当出现危机——尤其是在健康领域——那些骗子就会跳出来，”阿尔伯塔大学的信息失真专家蒂莫西·考菲尔德教授说。“他们利用恐惧和不确定性来销售未经证实的产品。”法新社
“Whenever there is a crisis – especially in the health space – the grifters are gonna come out,” said Timothy Caulfield, a misinformation expert and professor at the University of Alberta. “They exploit fear and uncertainty to sell unproven products.”AFP