评论
打印
It is lunchtime. And mosquitoes find their way to Ella Branham's arm at a Salt Lake City lab in the American state of Utah.
现在是午餐时间。在美国犹他州盐湖城的一个实验室里，蚊子找到了埃拉·布兰汉姆的手臂。
"They're not very aggressive and they're kind of picky eaters," said Branham.
布兰汉姆说：“它们不是很有攻击性，它们有点挑食”。
She breathed into a glass tank to attract the insects to the carbon dioxide in her breath.
她向一个玻璃罐里呼气，以吸引这种昆虫靠近她呼出的二氧化碳。
"So I'll be feeding them with my arm."
“我会用胳膊喂它们。”
Branham had volunteered to let the South American mosquitoes, called sabethes cyaneus, feed on her blood.
布兰汉姆自愿让一种叫做sabethes cyaneus的南美蚊子吸食她的血。
She is doing so to help produce eggs and maintain the colony for education and research at the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District.
她这样做是为了帮助产卵，为盐湖城灭蚊区的教育和研究维持种群。
The district is one of many mosquito control areas around the United States that seek to control one of the world's deadliest animals.
该灭蚊区是美国众多蚊子控制区之一，这些地区试图控制世界上最致命的动物之一——蚊子。
Mosquitoes are expected to strengthen as climate change creates a warmer and wetter environment.
随着气候变化创造更温暖、更潮湿的环境，蚊子的数量预计会增加。
Mosquitoes can carry viruses including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika.
蚊子可能携带包括登革热、黄热病、基孔肯雅热和寨卡病毒在内的病毒。
They are especially threatening to public health in Asia and Africa but are closely watched in the United States.
它们对亚洲和非洲的公共卫生尤其构成威胁，但在美国受到密切关注。
Local agencies reported more than 1,100 cases of West Nile virus in 2022, says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，2022年，当地机构报告了1100多例感染西尼罗河病毒的病例。
Most humans who get West Nile show no symptoms.
大多数感染西尼罗河病毒的人没有表现出任何症状。
But for some, it can cause vomiting, fever and in rare cases seizures or meningitis.
但对一些人来说，它会导致呕吐、发烧，在极少数情况下还会导致癫痫或脑膜炎。
Over roughly the last 25 years, nearly 3,000 deaths and more than 25,000 hospitalizations connected to West Nile were reported throughout the U.S., mostly in August.
在过去大约25年里，据报道，全美因感染西尼罗河病毒而死亡的人数接近3000人，住院人数超过2.5万人，其中大部分发生在8月份。
West Nile deaths have been reported this year in states including Texas and Colorado.
今年，据报道，包括得克萨斯州和科罗拉多州在内的几个州都出现了西尼罗河死亡病例。
Mosquitoes are also thought to have caused malaria infections of people in Maryland, Florida and Texas.
蚊子也被认为是导致马里兰州、佛罗里达州和得克萨斯州人感染疟疾的原因。
Ary Faraji is a disease expert and the director of the Salt Lake City Mosquito Abatement District.
艾瑞·法拉吉是一名疾病专家，也是盐湖城灭蚊区的负责人。
He said the mosquito season is starting earlier and lasting longer as the climate has warmed.
他说，随着气候变暖，蚊子季节开始得更早，持续的时间也更长。
The district used to shut down each year in mid-September, but that has gotten later and later.
该灭蚊区过去每年9月中旬关闭，但现在关闭时间越来越晚了。
Last year, district workers were still setting and checking traps until late November.
去年，直到11月下旬，该灭蚊区工作人员仍在设置和检查陷阱。
And this year, workers estimated that there were five times as many mosquitos in May compared to the average year.
今年，工作人员估计，5月份的蚊子数量是往年的五倍。
There was an unusually snowy winter in Salt Lake City and a very rainy spring that left more water for mosquitoes to breed in.
盐湖城经历了一个异常多雪的冬天和一个多雨的春天，这给蚊子繁殖提供了更多的水。
That is where the health threat comes in.
这就是健康威胁的来源。
While both males and females feed on sugar or nectar throughout their lives, females require blood to provide nutrition to their eggs.
虽然雄性和雌性蚊子一生都以糖或花蜜为食，但雌性蚊子需要血液来为卵子提供营养。
The workers, including scientists and students, use drones, boats and vehicles to trap, sort and test mosquitos for viruses.
包括科学家和学生在内的工作人员使用无人机、船只和车辆诱捕蚊子，并对蚊子进行分类和病毒测试。
Their work considers how things like weather systems and population growth will affect the spread of disease.
他们的工作考虑了天气系统和人口增长等因素将会如何影响疾病的传播。
The more people there are close to a lot of mosquitos, the higher the chance of spread, Faraji said.
法拉吉说，靠近蚊子的人越多，传播的几率就越高。
The wetland areas surrounding Utah's Great Salt Lake are problematic, he added.
他补充说，犹他州大盐湖周围的湿地地区存在问题。
Though dangerous, mosquitoes are also important to ecosystems throughout the world.
蚊子虽然危险，但对全世界的生态系统也很重要。
Some serve as pollinators or food sources to fish, birds and frogs.
有些蚊子是授粉者或鱼类、鸟类和青蛙的食物来源。
"We try to maintain a balance and suppress them to the point that they're not negatively affecting communities," Faraji said.
法拉吉说：“我们试图保持平衡，抑制它们，让它们不会对社区产生负面影响。”
"Taking them away would definitely negatively impact our ecosystem overall."
“消灭它们肯定会对我们整个生态系统造成负面影响。”
I'm Dan Novak.
丹·诺瓦克为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
