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Malarial Mice Smell Better to Mosquitoes
患上瘧疾是會發臭的。對，你沒聽錯！
Getting malaria stinks. Literally. According to a new study, malaria victims give off odors that attracts mosquitoes. And the insects that feed on the infected sufferer are then more likely to spread the disease.The work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Consuelo M. De Moraes et al, Malaria-induced changes in host odors enhance mosquito attraction]
根據一項最新的研究顯示，患有瘧疾的人身上散發的氣味更容易吸引蚊子。因而蚊子這類依靠人類生存的昆蟲就會傳播更多疾病。這項調查結果發布在美國國家科學院的會議記錄中。
Malaria is caused by plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted by mosquitoes. A decade ago, scientists found that Kenyan kids infected with plasmodium were more attractive to mosquitos than were kids who were parasite-free. But they did not know what drew the bloodsuckers to the unfortunate infected children.
瘧疾是由瘧原蟲這種寄生蟲引發并靠蚊子傳播的。十年前，科學家在肯尼亞有過這樣的發現：相對于體內沒有寄生蟲的孩子，患有寄生蟲病的兒童對蚊子有更強烈的吸引力。但他們不知道的是究竟是什么讓這些嗜血的蚊子更青睞這群患病的孩子。
To find out, researchers took mice that harbored the rodent version of malaria and put the animals in a wind chamber. And they found that mosquitos flocked toward the infected animals, attracted by their smell alone.
為了一探究竟，研究人員將攜有嚙齒類瘧疾的老鼠放進風箱里。結果，他們發現蚊子都向這些老鼠聚集，原來，吸引它們的僅僅是這些患病老鼠的氣味。
By chemically analyzing the animals’ scents, the researchers found that the parasites boost the levels ofa variety of odorous compounds that attract mosquitoes. So plasmodium is manipulating both its victim and its carrier to get itself spread far and wide.
通過對這些老鼠氣味的化學分析，研究人員發現寄生蟲增加了吸引蚊子的氣體的濃度。所以，可以說寄生蟲通過操控它的攜帶者和傳播者將自己傳向四面八方。
The finding may help with malaria prevention: if we can mask or harness the eau d’ infection, maybe we could nose the mosquitoes away from people.
這項發現可以幫助人們預防瘧疾。比如，遮蓋住自己的身體，噴上些淡香水都可以使蚊子遠離我們。
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American 60 Seconds,Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
感謝收聽科學美國人，我是凱倫·霍普金。
