‘Miraculous’ mosquito hack cuts Dengue by 77%

Friday, June 11, 2021 - 01:00

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?Dengue fever?cases have been cut by 77% in a "groundbreaking" trial that manipulates the mosquitoes that spread it, say scientists.

科學(xué)家說，在一項控制傳染登革熱蚊子的“突破性”試驗中，登革熱病例減少了77%。

Dengue ?n. /?de?ɡi/ ("?Dengue fever", "?breakbone fever") 登革熱（由蚊子傳播的熱帶疾病，癥狀為發(fā)燒和關(guān)節(jié)劇痛）

groundbreaking ?adj. /?ɡra?ndbre?k??/開創(chuàng)性的；創(chuàng)新的；革新的?? a groundbreaking piece of research 富有開拓性的研究

They used mosquitoes infected with "miraculous" bacteria that reduce the insect's ability to spread Dengue.The trial took place in Yogyakarta city,?Indonesia, and is being expanded in the hope of eradicating?the virus.

他們使蚊子感染一種“神奇”的細(xì)菌，這種細(xì)菌能降低蚊子傳播登革熱的能力。該試驗在印度尼西亞日惹市進(jìn)行，并正在擴(kuò)大，以期根除該病毒。

Yogyakarta city：日惹市（印度尼西亞）

eradicate ?v. /??r?d?ke?t/ ~ sth (from sth) 根除；消滅；杜絕?? Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰質(zhì)炎實(shí)際上已經(jīng)根除。

The World Mosquito Programme team says it could be a solution to a virus that has gone around the world.Few people had heard of Dengue 50 years ago, but it has been a?relentless slow-burning pandemic and cases have increased dramatically.In 1970, only nine countries had faced severe Dengue outbreaks, now there are up to 400 million infections a year.?Dengue is commonly known as "break-bone fever" because it causes severe pain in muscles and bones and explosive outbreaks can overwhelm hospitals.

世界蚊子項目小組表示，這可能是一種解決已經(jīng)傳播到世界各地的病毒的方法。50年前，很少有人聽說過登革熱，但它一直是一種持續(xù)不斷、緩慢蔓延的流行病，病例數(shù)量急劇增加。1970年，只有9個國家面臨嚴(yán)重的登革熱疫情，現(xiàn)在每年有多達(dá)4億人感染。登革熱通常被稱為“斷骨熱”，因為它會引起肌肉和骨骼的劇烈疼痛，暴發(fā)疫情可能會讓醫(yī)院不堪重負(fù)。

relentless ?adj. /r??lentl?s/ 1.不停的；持續(xù)強(qiáng)烈的；不減弱的??her relentless pursuit of perfection 她對完美的不懈追求；2.不放棄的；嚴(yán)格的；苛刻的；無情的??a relentless enemy 殘酷的敵人

The trial used mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia?bacteria. One of the researchers, Dr Katie Anders, describes them as "naturally miraculous".?Wolbachia doesn't harm the mosquito, but it camps out in the same parts of its body that the Dengue virus needs to get into.

該試驗使用了感染沃爾巴克氏菌的蚊子。其中一名研究人員，凱蒂·安德斯博士將它們描述為“自然奇跡”。沃爾巴克氏體不會傷害蚊子，但它在登革熱病毒需要進(jìn)入的蚊子身體的相同部位棲息。

Wolbachia?/'w?lb?ki?/ n. [微] 沃爾巴克氏體屬

The bacteria compete for resources and make it much harder for Dengue virus to replicate, so the mosquito is less likely to cause an infection when it bites again.?

這些細(xì)菌爭奪資源，使登革熱病毒在蚊子體內(nèi)更難復(fù)制，因此蚊子再次叮咬時不太可能引起感染。

The trial used five million mosquito eggs infected with Wolbachia. Eggs were placed in buckets of water in the city every two weeks and the process of building up an infected population of mosquitoes took nine months.

該試驗使用了感染沃爾巴克氏菌的500萬個蚊子卵。蚊子卵每兩周被放置在城市的水桶中，建立受感染的蚊子種群的過程需要9個月。

Yogyakarta was split into 24 zones and the mosquitoes were released only in half of them.

日惹被分成24個區(qū)域，只有一半的區(qū)域釋放了蚊子。

The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a 77% reduction in cases and an 86% reduction in people needing hospital care when the insects were released.

研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《新英格蘭醫(yī)學(xué)雜志》(New England Journal of Medicine)上，顯示，釋放這些蚊蟲后，病例減少了77%，需要住院治療的人數(shù)減少了86%。

"It's very exciting, it's better than we could have hoped for to be honest," Dr Anders told the BBC.

安德斯博士告訴BBC：“實(shí)話實(shí)說，這非常令人興奮，比我們原本希望的要好?！?/span>

The technique has been so successful the mosquitoes have been released across the whole city and the project is moving to surrounding areas with the aim of eradicating Dengue in the region.

這項技術(shù)非常成功，蚊子已經(jīng)被釋放到整個城市，該項目正在轉(zhuǎn)移到周邊地區(qū)，目的是根除該地區(qū)的登革熱。

Dr Anders, who is also the director of impact assessment at the World Mosquito Programme, said: "This result is groundbreaking."We think it can have an even greater impact when it is deployed at scale in large cities around the world, where Dengue is a huge public health problem."

安德斯博士同時也是世界蚊子項目影響評估主任，他說:“這一結(jié)果是開創(chuàng)性的?！蔽覀冋J(rèn)為，在登革熱是巨大公共衛(wèi)生問題的世界大城市大規(guī)模實(shí)施時，它會產(chǎn)生更大的影響。”

Wolbachia are also spectacularly manipulative and can alter the fertility of their hosts to ensure they are passed on to the next generation of mosquitoes.

沃爾巴克氏菌還具有引人注目的操控性，可以改變宿主的繁殖能力，以確保它們能傳遞給下一代蚊子。

It means once Wolbachia has been established, it should stick around for a long time and continue to protect against Dengue infection.This is in sharp contrast to other control methods - such as insecticides or releasing large numbers of?sterile male mosquitoes - that need to be kept up in order to suppress the blood-suckers.

這意味著一旦沃爾巴克氏菌被建立起來，它應(yīng)該會存在很長一段時間，并繼續(xù)預(yù)防登革熱感染。這與其他控制方法形成了鮮明對比——例如殺蟲劑或釋放大量不育雄性蚊子——這些方法需要不斷實(shí)施以抑制蚊子生長。

insecticide n. /?n?sekt?sa?d/殺蟲劑；殺蟲藥

Sterile??adj. /?stera?l/ ?

1.?(人或動物) 不能生育的；不育的；2. 無菌的；消過毒的??sterile bandages 消毒繃帶；3.(討論、爭論等) 無結(jié)果的；沒有實(shí)際價值的???a sterile debate 沒有結(jié)果的辯論；4. 刻板的；無個性的；缺乏新意的??The room felt cold and sterile. 那房間讓人覺得陰冷而沒有生氣。5.(土地) 貧瘠的

(BBC)

原文鏈接：http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/06/11/world/251330/%E2%80%98miraculous%E2%80%99-mosquito-hack-cuts-Dengue-77