天氣轉(zhuǎn)暖意味著是時(shí)候警惕蜱蟲(chóng)了

天氣轉(zhuǎn)暖意味著是時(shí)候警惕蜱蟲(chóng)了

As warm weather sends people outdoors, some are encountering tenacious pests.

隨著溫暖的天氣讓人們到戶外去，一些人遇到了頑強(qiáng)的害蟲(chóng)。

Forget staying 6 feet apart: Ticks go for blood in the hardest-to-reach places on the human body.

忘了保持6英尺的距離：蜱蟲(chóng)會(huì)去人身上最難夠到的地方吸血。

Many of those ticks are infected with Lyme disease. The illness, which was first identified in Connecticut in the 1970s, is found in countries across the Northern Hemisphere. It's the most common tick-borne disease in both the United States and Europe.

很多蜱蟲(chóng)都感染了萊姆病。這種疾病于20世紀(jì)70年代在康涅狄格州首次被發(fā)現(xiàn)，在北半球的國(guó)家都有發(fā)現(xiàn)。它是美國(guó)和歐洲最常見(jiàn)的蜱傳疾病。

And the area where Lyme disease is found is expanding.

發(fā)現(xiàn)萊姆病的區(qū)域正在擴(kuò)大。

Lyme disease is on the rise in the United Kingdom, and climate change is projected to worsen the spread of Lyme across northern Europe.

萊姆病在英國(guó)呈上升趨勢(shì)，氣候變化預(yù)計(jì)會(huì)加劇萊姆病在北歐的蔓延。

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there's now a high incidence of exposure in Midwestern, Northeastern and mid-Atlantic states.

根據(jù)美國(guó)疾病控制和預(yù)防中心的數(shù)據(jù)，現(xiàn)在中西部、東北部和大西洋中部各州的爆發(fā)率很高。

And while it's still too soon to say how bad ticks will be this year, some indicators point to a population surge in the early part of the season in the United States. Reported sightings of ticks via the University of Rhode Island's survey were up 80% in March over last year.

雖然現(xiàn)在說(shuō)蜱蟲(chóng)今年會(huì)有多厲害還為時(shí)過(guò)早，但一些指標(biāo)顯示，美國(guó)的蜱蟲(chóng)數(shù)量在季節(jié)的早期會(huì)激增。根據(jù)羅德島大學(xué)的調(diào)查，三月份報(bào)告的蜱蟲(chóng)目擊報(bào)告比去年增加了80%。

The tick population is likely to fluctuate throughout the season anyway, said Mather, who is a professor in the department of plant sciences and entomology at the University of Rhode Island. "What we see in real time isn't always a good prognosticator for what could be happening a month or two months from now."

馬瑟是羅得島大學(xué)植物科學(xué)與昆蟲(chóng)學(xué)系的教授，他說(shuō)，蜱蟲(chóng)的數(shù)量可能會(huì)在整個(gè)季節(jié)上下波動(dòng)。“我們實(shí)時(shí)看到的情況并不總是能夠很好地預(yù)測(cè)一兩個(gè)月后可能發(fā)生的情況。”

By April and May, reports were closer to what Mather saw in 2019. But even if tick numbers hold steady for the rest of the warm-weather months, encounters with the tiny arachnids will remain a serious issue.

到4月和5月，報(bào)告更接近馬瑟在2019年看到的情況。但是，即使蜱蟲(chóng)的數(shù)量在溫暖天氣剩下的幾個(gè)月里保持穩(wěn)定，遇到這種微小的蛛形綱動(dòng)物仍然是一個(gè)嚴(yán)重的問(wèn)題。

Not only can ticks carry Lyme disease, they may bring other illnesses as well. When left untreated, some of these can be deadly for both humans and pets.

蜱蟲(chóng)不僅會(huì)攜帶萊姆病，還會(huì)帶來(lái)其他疾病。如果不及時(shí)治療，其中一些對(duì)人類和寵物都是致命的。

And as sunny days send people outside to breath fresh air amid the pandemic, the risk of contracting a tick-borne disease or infection goes up wherever ticks can be found.

隨著人們?cè)诖罅餍衅陂g在陽(yáng)光明媚的日子里到戶外呼吸新鮮空氣，凡發(fā)現(xiàn)蜱蟲(chóng)的地方，感染蜱蟲(chóng)傳播疾病或感染的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)就會(huì)上升。

What are the most serious tick-borne illnesses?

什么是最嚴(yán)重的蜱傳疾病?

Worrying about the coronavirus pandemic doesn't mean other threats have gone away.

對(duì)冠狀病毒大流行的擔(dān)憂并不意味著其他威脅已經(jīng)消失。

"There are numerous tick-borne pathogens that are on the rise," said Allison Gardner, a medical entomologist and assistant professor of arthropod vector biology at the University of Maine.

緬因州大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)昆蟲(chóng)學(xué)家、節(jié)肢動(dòng)物病媒生物學(xué)助理教授艾莉森·加德納說(shuō)，“由蜱傳播的病原體數(shù)量正在增加。”

Gardner noted that the United States contends with the parasitic infection babesiosis; it's also found in Europe.

加德納指出，美國(guó)與巴貝斯蟲(chóng)病的寄生蟲(chóng)感染作斗爭(zhēng);它也在歐洲被發(fā)現(xiàn)。

The bacterial disease anaplasmosis is a major issue in the United States as well, and has become a more serious threat in the last two decades. More than 6,000 cases were reported to the CDC in 2018, up from 348 cases in 2000, when data for the disease were first collected.

細(xì)菌性疾病無(wú)形體病在美國(guó)也是一個(gè)主要問(wèn)題，在過(guò)去二十年已成為一個(gè)更嚴(yán)重的威脅。2018年，美國(guó)疾病控制與預(yù)防中心報(bào)告了6000多例病例，高于2000年首次收集疾病數(shù)據(jù)時(shí)的348例。

As with Lyme disease, early symptoms of anaplasmosis include fevers, chills, headaches and muscle aches. Antibiotics are effective against anaplasmosis, but if left untreated, the disease can be fatal. Those with compromised immune systems are at especially high risk.

與萊姆病一樣，無(wú)形體病的早期癥狀包括發(fā)燒、寒戰(zhàn)、頭痛和肌肉疼痛。抗生素對(duì)無(wú)形體病是有效的，但如果不治療，這種疾病可能是致命的。那些免疫系統(tǒng)受損的人風(fēng)險(xiǎn)尤其高。

In Europe, the viral tick-borne encephalitis is a problem, with 3,092 confirmed cases in European Union countries in 2018. There is an effective vaccine against the disease, which can cause fevers, headaches, paralysis and convulsions. (Other tick borne-diseases in Europe include tick-borne relapsing fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever and Mediterranean spotted fever.)

在歐洲，病毒性蜱傳腦炎是一個(gè)問(wèn)題，2018年在歐盟國(guó)家有3092例確診病例。有一種有效的疫苗可以對(duì)抗這種疾病，這種疾病會(huì)導(dǎo)致發(fā)燒、頭痛、癱瘓和抽搐。(歐洲的其他蜱傳疾病包括蜱傳回歸熱、克里米亞-剛果出血熱和地中海斑疹熱。)

The most common tick-borne danger in both the United States and Europe, however, is still from Lyme disease. And the vast majority of cases may go undetected.

然而，在美國(guó)和歐洲，由蜱傳播的最常見(jiàn)的危險(xiǎn)仍然來(lái)自萊姆病。而且絕大多數(shù)病例可能不會(huì)被發(fā)現(xiàn)。