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Ticks can really get under your skin. Literally. And in many parts of the country they spread illness, including Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Add to that list a new scourge: Heartland virus, which doesn't respond to treatment.
蜱蟲真的能進(jìn)入皮膚。沒開玩笑。在很多鄉(xiāng)村蜱蟲傳播疾病，包括萊姆病和落基山斑疹熱。還有一項(xiàng)新的疾?。盒呐K地帶病毒，目前無法治療。
This infection was described for the first time last year after two Missouri men were hospitalized with fever and headaches. No one was sure how the men contracted the disease. Now a study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene confirms that ticks were the transmitters.
去年，兩個(gè)密蘇里人被診斷為發(fā)燒頭痛，這是這種疾病首次被記載。沒人知道這兩個(gè)人是怎么感染這種疾病的。如今，在美國(guó)熱帶醫(yī)學(xué)與衛(wèi)生雜志上的一項(xiàng)研究表明蜱蟲是傳播者。
Researchers tromped out to the two men's properties, and 10 more sites in the region, to set up tick traps. These included containers of dry ice, which emit carbon dioxide to attract ticks, and flannel bedding, which traps them. They also picked some ticks off of area dogs and horses.
研究人員探尋了這兩個(gè)人的住處以及住房區(qū)域十個(gè)地點(diǎn)，設(shè)立了捕捉蜱蟲的陷阱。包括干冰儲(chǔ)存容器，釋放二氧化碳吸引蜱蟲，還有法蘭絨被褥，逮捕蜱蟲。他們也從當(dāng)?shù)氐墓泛婉R身上發(fā)現(xiàn)了些蜱蟲。
All told, they collected more than 56,000 tick specimens. And they found the virus residing in lone star ticks—the most common in the region. About one in 500 of the arachnids carried the virus. Enough to make me check for ticks. And then check again.
總之，他們收集了超過56000件蜱蟲標(biāo)本。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)病毒寄居在當(dāng)?shù)刈畛Ｒ姷墓滦球珞w內(nèi)。五百只里面就有一只攜帶這種病毒。這足以讓我一再檢查周圍是否有蜱蟲了。
—Katherine Harmon
