雙語醫療：SARS病毒可能直接從蝙蝠傳給人類

以下是小編整理的英語文章：SARS病毒可能直接從蝙蝠傳給人類， 希望能對大家的英語學習有幫助。

A decade after SARS swept through the world and killed more than 750 people, scientists have made a troubling discovery: A very close cousin of the SARS virus lives in bats and it can likely jump directly to people.

The findings create new fears about the emergence of diseases like SARS, or severe acute respiratorysyndrome. The virus spread quickly from person to person in 2003 and had a mortality rate of at least 9%. Worries of a severe pandemic led the World Health Organization to issue an emergency travel advisory.

10年前，傳染性非典型肺炎(SARS)席捲全球，帶走了750多條生命。而近日科學家們又有了一個令人不安的發現：一種與SARS病毒極其相似的近親病毒正流行於蝙蝠間，很可能直接傳染給人類。

這一發現引起了人們對類似SARS(嚴重急性呼吸綜合徵)的傳染病再次爆發的擔憂。2003年，SARS病毒在人際間快速傳播，致死率不低於9%。出於對疫情惡化的擔憂，世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)發佈了緊急旅遊警告。

While bats have previously been fingered as a host for SARS, it was believed that the virus jumped from there to weasel-like mammals known as civets, where it went through genetic changes before infecting people. Operating on that belief, China cracked down on markets where bats, civets and other wildlife were sold for food.

雖然蝙蝠先前就被指認爲SARS病毒的宿主，但人們曾相信病毒是首先由蝙蝠傳染給果子狸這一鼬鼠類哺乳動物、在經歷了基因突變之後才最終傳給人類的。循着這一思路，中國政府關閉了將蝙蝠、果子狸等野生動物當做肉類出售的食品市場。

The new bat-to-human discovery suggests that the control tactic may have limited effectiveness because a SARS-like virus remains loose in the wild and could potentially spark another outbreak.

但新病毒可經蝙蝠傳給人的發現表明，這種防控措施的效果可能有限，因爲SARS類病毒在野外的蔓延得不到控制，可能會引發又一場流行病的爆發。

'It changes the equation' for public health, said Peter Daszak, a senior author of the study and president of EcoHealth Alliance, a group involved in conservation and global health. 'We can close all the markets in China and still have a pandemic.'

生態健康聯盟(EcoHealth Alliance)主席、這項研究報告的撰稿人之一彼得·達薩克(Peter Daszak)稱，這一發現改變了公共衛生的局勢，即使關閉中國所有市場，病情仍可能蔓延開來。生態健康聯盟致力於病情防護和全球衛生。

The latest findings, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, may also help scientists grapple with a more immediate worry. About a year ago, a novel SARS-like virus was reported in the Middle East. It has since killed more than 50 people and some preliminary research suggests that it also may have originated in bats.

週三發表在《自然》(Nature)雜誌上的這一最新發現可能加劇科學家們的憂慮。大約一年前，中東地區報告了一種新型的SARS類病毒，導致超過50人死亡，一些初步研究顯示這一病毒同樣源於蝙蝠。

SARS is caused by a germ known as a coronavirus. First discovered in 2003 in southern China, SARS went on to sicken more than 8,000 people in more than two dozen countries in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, before it was contained. No known cases have been reported anywhere since 2004.

SARS產生於冠狀病毒(conronavirus)，這種病毒2003年首次在中國南部被發現，在北美、南美、歐洲和亞洲總共超過24個國家中感染了8,000多人之後，疫情纔得到控制。2004年以後再未報告新的病例。

But a key puzzle remained. No one ever found a live SARS virus in bats found in southern China's wildlife markets, making it unclear that those bats were the source. So where did it come from?

但有一個關鍵的問題懸而未決：沒有人在中國南部野生市場中的蝙蝠體內發現活的SARS病毒，這使得病毒是否來自於蝙蝠成了疑案。那麼病毒究竟從何而來?

Dr. Daszak and his colleagues chose to study a horseshoe bat colony in Yunnan province in southwest China-hundreds of miles from the big wildlife-for-food markets of Guangdong province, where SARS was first reported.

達薩克博士和同事們在中國西南部雲南省的菊頭蝠(horseshoe bat)棲息地進行研究，這裏距離SARS首次被發現的廣東省的大型野生動物市場相距數百英里。

The researchers took hundreds of samples from the horseshoe bats. A genetic analysis revealed at least seven different strains of SARS-like coronaviruses circulating in that single group of animals.

研?a href="">咳嗽貝泳脹夫鶉褐刑崛×聳俑鮁窘謝蚍治觶峁允荊遼儆釁咧植煌腟ARS類冠狀病毒毒株寄宿於這一蝙蝠羣中。

Crucially, the scientists were also able to isolate and culture a live virus that binds to a receptor on a human cell. That suggests that direct bat-to-human infection would likely occur.

科學家隨後成功分離並培養出可以與人類細胞受體相結合的活病毒。這意味着病毒有可能直接從蝙蝠傳給人類。

'This paper indicates that the bat is the origin and that the virus can be directly transmitted to humans,' said Charles Calisher, a virologist at Colorado State University, who wasn't involved in the study. 'It practically rules out the possibility' of an intermediate host.

沒有參與這次研究的科羅拉多州立大學(Colorado State University)病毒學家查爾斯·卡利舍(Charles Calisher)說，這篇報告說明病毒源自於蝙蝠並且可以直接感染人類，基本上排除了中間宿主的可能性。

Dr. Daszak described a potential scenario where close contact between bats and humans-such as when the animals are captured for food-could increase the risk of viral transmission. 'They are bringing wildlife in from new areas. They are going to Yunnan where bats are still common.'

達薩克博士稱，如果蝙蝠與人類近距離接觸，例如蝙蝠被捕獵食用，那麼病毒傳染的機率就會升高。

Dr. Calisher said the finding was important because researchers will now be able to get important clues about the danger these novel SARS-like coronaviruses pose. For example, if a bat carries a high load of the virus, it indicates that the potential for transmission to humans is also high.

卡利舍博士認爲這一發現意義重大，因爲研究人員現在能夠追蹤到新型SARS類冠狀病毒所具有的危險性的線索。比如說，如果一隻蝙蝠被發現攜帶有大量此類病毒，則預示着病毒傳染給人類的潛在機率也很高。