VOA常速英语2013--升温引发更多疾病

Warmer Temps Trigger More Disease 升温引发更多疾病

Climate change is often associated with extreme weather events, melting glaciers 1 and rising sea levels. But it could also have a major impact on human, animal and plant health by making it easier for diseases to spread.

气候改变往往和极端的天气事件，冰川融化和海平面上升有关。但是它使得疾病易于传播，从而对人类，动植物的健康产生巨大的影响。

Various germs and parasites 2 may find the coming years a time to live longer and prosper 3. Rising temperatures are changing environments and removing some of their natural impediments.

许多种类的微生物和寄生虫或许在未来几年找到长寿和繁衍旺盛的时机。不断上升的温度正改变着环境和消除它们自然阻碍。

Sonia Altizer is an associate professor at the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology and lead author of the study. She said it’s a review of research done over the past 10 years to see what trends and new information on climate change have emerged.

Sonia Altizer是一位在佐治亚大学奥德姆学校的生态学教授和导师。她说通过研究以往数十年的回顾，发现气候变化的趋势和新的信息。

“One of the big themes that has emerged is that there’s a lot of diseases, especially in natural systems, where there as a pretty clear signal that either the prevalence or severity of those diseases has increased in response to climate change.”

“已经出现的一个大主题是存在许多疾病，尤其是在自然系统中，有十分清晰的信号，不断是疾病的肆虐还是疾病的严重性都增加了对气候改变的回应。”

She said some of those natural systems where the signal is strongest are in the arctic and in warmer oceans.

她表示有些信号最强的自然系统在极寒区域和更温暖的海洋区域。

“So in the arctic there are parasitic 4 worms that affect muskox and reindeer 5, for example, that are developing faster and becoming more prevalent and expanding their ranges. And then in tropical oceans, like Caribbean coral reefs, there’s a large amount of evidence that has mounted that shows that warming interferes 6 with the symbiosis 7 of corals – makes them more vulnerable to disease and at the same time increases the growth rate of some lethal 8 bacteria,” she said.

“在极寒区域存在寄生的蠕虫影响着麝牛和驯鹿，例如这些蠕虫正发展的更加迅速变得更加普遍和扩张着他们的范围。在热带海洋像加勒比海的珊瑚礁，有大量的越来越多的证据显示升温干扰着珊瑚的共生关系，使得珊瑚面对疾病更加脆弱，同时增加许多致命病菌的生长速度。”她说。

But a second theme emerged indicating that sometimes climate change may have no effect at all.

第二个出现的主题预示着有时气候的改变或许没有任何影响。

“The other main point that we focused on is that knowing why different pathogens respond differently to climate change is what’s needed to help us predict and ultimately manage disease outbreaks in people and animals and plants,” she said.

“我们关注的其他因素使我们知道为什么病原体对气候改变的不同反应 有助于我们预测和最大程度管理在人类和植物和动物之间疾病的爆发，”她说。

Some countries will be much better prepared to handle the disease threat than others, like those in Europe and North America.

许多国家将能比其他国家更好的应对疾病威胁，例如这些在欧洲和北美洲的国家。

“Surveillance, vector control, modern sanitation 9, drugs, vaccines 10 can be deployed 11 to prevent outbreaks of a lot of diseases, especially vector borne disease or diarrheal disease that are much more problematic in the developing world. And so these can counter the effects of climate change and make it hard to detect increases in those pathogens,” said Altizer.

“监控，带菌生物的控制，现代卫生系统，药物，疫苗可以有效用于阻止疾病爆发，尤其携带病菌传播的疾病和腹泻在发展中国家更成问题。这些可以与气候改变影响相对抗，使得更难检测出病原体中的疾病”Altizer说。

Controlling vectors means controlling such things as mosquitos and ticks, which can carry malaria 12 or dengue fever.

控制带菌生物意思是说控制这些例如蚊子和壁虱，这些可以携带疟疾或登革热。

In developing countries, pathogens affecting agriculture and wildlife could adversely 13 affect food security and the livelihoods 14 of indigenous 15 peoples.

在发展中国家，病原体通过影响着农业和野生生物，从而对食品安全和土生土长的居民生机产生不良影响。

So how concerned should health officials be? Altizer said there’s no simple answer.

所以健康部门对此需要多大程度的关注呢？Altizer说这没有一个简单的答案。

“I think that the answer to it really depends on the location. So where, when and what pathogen? So I think we’re at a stage now where in the next five to ten years scientists will be able to move towards a predictive framework that will be able to answer questions about where in the world and what pathogens are responding and will continue to respond most strongly to climate change.”

“我认为答案就是因地制宜。也就是什么地方，什么时间和什么病原体？我认为我们处于这个阶段，在未来5-10年科学将能够推进一个预见性框架，该框架将能解答关于世界各地和各种病原体的应对，并且持续应对极端气候变化 ”

Altizer says the effects of climate change will unfold over decades. So it’s vital to follow long-term standardized 16 data for many diseases and pathogens. She said crop management may be a good example to follow. It has a long history of tracking disease outbreaks, forecasting potential threats and responding to those threats early.

Altizer 说气候改变造成的影响将在未来几十年内爆发。所以对许多疾病和病原体来说，追踪长期的数据是很重要的。她还说农作物的管理是一个很好的效仿例子。还有很长一段时间疾病才会爆发，预测潜在的威胁和提早应对。