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NOEL KING, HOST: All right, now we have some news of an unwelcome scientific discovery.

Researchers have identified a new species of mosquito in Florida.

研究人員在佛羅里達發現了一種新蚊子。

It's known to carry several diseases, including yellow fever. Here's NPR's Greg Allen.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: The life of a mosquito researcher isn't a glamorous one, but Lawrence Reeves likes it.

格雷格.艾倫:蚊子研究人員的生活並不光鮮,但是,勞倫斯.裡夫斯很喜歡。

LAWRENCE REEVES: Yeah. I think it's really cool. I'm a big nerd for this stuff.

勞倫斯.裡夫斯:是的。我認為,這真的很酷,我對這種事很在行。

LINDSAY CAMPBELL: (Laughter).

林賽坎貝爾: (大笑)。

REEVES: So it's really easy to collect mosquitoes.

裡夫斯:所以,收集蚊子真的很容易。

ALLEN: Reeves is a research scientist with the University of Florida.

艾倫:裡夫斯是佛羅里達大學的一名研究科學家。

And his collaborator is entomologist Lindsay Campbell. One way you collect mosquitoes is with a vacuum.

他的合作者是昆蟲學家林賽坎貝爾,收集蚊子的一種方法是用真空吸塵器。

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ALLEN: In a video he recorded, Reeves traipses through undergrowth.

艾倫:在他錄製的一段影片中,裡夫斯在灌木叢中漫步。

REEVES: It's kind of like "Ghostbusters."

裡夫斯:這有點像《捉鬼敢死隊》。

You go around in the field sucking up mosquitoes with these vacuums. And then you end up with a bag of hundreds or thousands of mosquitoes that you have to sift through to identify.

你在野外四處走動,用這些真空吸塵器把蚊子吸走,然後,你就會得到一袋成百上千的蚊子,你必須透過篩選來識別它們。

ALLEN: Sifting through mosquitoes collected near Everglades National Park, Reeves spotted some that he hadn't seen before.

艾倫:在埃弗格萊茲國家公園附近收集的蚊子中,裡夫斯發現了一些他以前沒見過的蚊子。

Examining them under a microscope and then analyzing their DNA, he realized they were a species new to Florida, one called Aedes scapularis.

在顯微鏡下觀察它們,然後分析它們的DNA,他意識到它們是佛羅里達州的一個新物種,名為肩胛伊蚊。

Up to now, they've been found mostly in the Caribbean and Latin America.

截至目前,主要在加勒比海和拉丁美洲發現它們。

In Brazil, Reeves says, the mosquitoes have been found to be infected with a range of diseases.

裡夫斯表示,在巴西,蚊子已經被發現感染了一系列疾病。

REEVES: Things like Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus and a handful of others.

裡夫斯:比如委內瑞拉馬腦炎病毒、黃熱病病毒和其他一些病毒。

ALLEN: It's been more than a century since there was a yellow fever outbreak in the U.S. And although they re infected, it's not clear if Aedes scapularis mosquitoes spread the diseases.

艾倫:美國爆發黃熱病已經有一個多世紀了,儘管它們已經被感染,但尚不清楚肩胛伊蚊是否傳播了黃熱病。

But as outbreaks of Zika and dengue have shown in Florida, new mosquitoes can bring new diseases.

但是,隨著寨卡病毒和登革熱爆發於佛羅里達,新蚊子可以帶來新疾病。

The species is already established here, and a study suggests it may spread north along Florida's Gulf and Atlantic coasts.

肩胛伊蚊已經在這裡定居,一項研究表明,它可能沿著佛羅里達海灣和大西洋海岸向北傳播。

And there are other things about Aedes scapularis that are worrisome.

關於肩胛伊蚊還有其他令人擔憂的事情。

It's a mosquito that likes going indoors and feeds on both wildlife and people. Campbell says that's not good.

這種蚊子喜歡待在室內,以野生動物和人類為食。坎貝爾表示,這不太好。

CAMPBELL: If you end up with a species that's capable of transmitting to bats and likes to also bite humans, that's the prime condition for a spillover event.

坎貝爾:如果你最終死於一種能夠傳播疾病給蝙蝠,並能叮咬人類的蚊子,這就是一個溢位傳染事件的首要條件。

ALLEN: Scientists believe the COVID-19 pandemic is a result of such a spillover event involving bats or another animal species.

艾倫:科學家認為,新冠肺炎疫情是這種蝙蝠或其他動物的溢位傳染事件的結果。

Climate change, international travel and global trade are also factors.

氣候變化、國際旅行和全球貿易也是影響因素。

Ten new species of non-native mosquitoes have been found in Florida since 2000. And Reeves says more are on the way.

自2000年以來,佛羅里達已經發現了10種新的非本地蚊子。裡夫斯表示,將會發現更多新型蚊子。

REEVES: There's one in particular right now that a lot of people are worrying about, Aedes vittatus, which is kind of an old-world vector for pretty much everything that we're worried about - dengue, chikungunya, Zika.

裡夫斯:現在,有一種蚊子特別讓很多人擔心,即白點伊蚊,它是一種古老的媒介,幾乎可以傳播我們擔心的所有疾病,如登革熱、奇昆古尼亞熱病和寨卡。

ALLEN: Originally from India, Aedes vittatus mosquitoes have now been found in Cuba, just 90 miles from Florida.

艾倫:伊蚊最初來自印度,現在,在距離佛羅里達90英里的古巴發現了這種蚊子。

Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.

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