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Malaria is a tropical disease, right? Actually, malaria parasites can be found as far north as Alaska—at least in birds. And a warming climate may push avian malaria even farther north by the end of the century, according to a study in the journal PLoS ONE.
瘧疾是一種熱帶疾病，對(duì)嗎？實(shí)際上，在北方遙遠(yuǎn)的阿拉斯加州也能發(fā)現(xiàn)瘧疾寄生蟲——至少曾在鳥類身上發(fā)現(xiàn)過。根據(jù)一項(xiàng)發(fā)表在《公共科學(xué)圖書館·綜合》雜志上的研究，到本世紀(jì)末氣候變暖會(huì)造成禽虐疾傳播到更北的地區(qū)。
Researchers took blood from nearly 700 birds around Anchorage, Fairbanks and a truck stop called Coldfoot, Alaska, above the Arctic Circle at 67 degrees north latitude. And they found the parasite in 7 percent of the birds at the two southerly sites. Some were migrants, and may have picked up the disease down south. But others were hatchlings and resident birds—indicating the parasite can complete its full life cycle in the Great White North.
研究人員從700只鳥身上抽取了血樣，這些鳥分布在北極圈北緯67度的阿拉斯加安克雷奇市，費(fèi)爾班克斯市以及一個(gè)稱作“Coldfoot”的卡車停車場(chǎng)周邊。在其中兩個(gè)靠南地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)7%的鳥類攜帶這種寄生蟲。一些鳥是候鳥，從南部遷徙過來時(shí)就攜帶有寄生蟲。但是其他的則是雛鳥和留鳥，這表明寄生蟲能夠在北部大雪原完成生命循環(huán)。
The parasite doesn't seem to have hopped north of Fairbanks yet. But temperatures in the Arctic are rising at twice the global average, and researchers say malaria could cross into the Arctic Circle by 2080. Once it gets there, it could attack species like snowy owls, which have never been exposed to malaria, and may not have resistance to the disease. Talk about a buzzkill.
這種寄生蟲似乎還沒能“跳到”費(fèi)爾班克斯市。但是北極氣溫上升速度是全球平均水平的兩倍，研究人員預(yù)測(cè)到2080年瘧疾會(huì)進(jìn)入北極圈。瘧疾一旦傳播到那里就會(huì)攻擊當(dāng)?shù)匚锓N，比如雪鸮。這種鳥類從未感染過瘧疾，連抵抗能力都沒有。真掃興！
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