经济学人439:寄生虫学 全球防虫的危险

 　　Science and technology.

　　科技。

　　Parasitology

　　寄生虫学

　　The risks of global worming

　　全球防虫的危险

　　Widespread use of anti-parasite drugs is reducing their value

　　广泛使用抗寄生虫药物正在降低其疗效

　　Safely grazing?

　　正在安全地吃草？

　　FOR decades, the overuse of antibiotics¹ has encouraged the evolution of drug-resistant² bacteria which, though they have never broken out and caused an epidemic³ in the way that was once feared, have nevertheless been responsible for many deaths that might otherwise have been avoided. Now something similar seems to be happening in agriculture. The overuse of drugs against parasitic⁴ worms which infest⁵ stock animals means that these, too, are becoming drug-resistant. That is bad for the animals' health and welfare, and equally bad for farmers' profits.

　　几十年来，广泛使用抗生素促进了耐药病菌的进化。尽管它们从来没有失控，爆发人们一度为止恐惧的大规模瘟疫，但还是造成了大量本来可以避免的死亡。现在畜牧业中似乎也有类似现象。人们对家畜身上的寄生虫过分使用药物，这让它们也有了抗药性。这对动物的健康与安乐绝非好事，同样也会减少饲养它们的农民的利润。

　　This, at least, is the conclusion drawn⁶ by Ray Kaplan, a parasitologist at the University of Georgia who has just published a review of research on the problem. His results, which appear in Veterinary Parasitology, make grim reading.

　　这至少是乔治亚大学（University of Georgia）寄生虫病学家雷?卡普兰（Ray Kaplan）在他最近发表的有关这一问题的研究综述中得出的结论。他发表在《兽医寄生虫学》（Veterinary Parasitology）上的文章读来让人心情沉重。

　　Sheep and goats are the worst affected⁷. Studies in Australia, Brazil and the United States suggest that animals in half or more of farms in many parts of those countries are infested⁸ with drug-resistant worms. In some cases the parasites⁹ are resistant to every drug that can be thrown at them. The proportion of infested farms is lower in New Zealand, a country that has a huge population of sheep, but even there it is rising at a worrying rate.

　　绵羊与山羊受的影响最大。在澳大利亚、巴西和美国所做的研究表明，在这些国家的许多地区，一半或更多的农场中的家畜身上有耐药寄生虫。有些农场的寄生虫对所有可用药物有抗药性。新西兰的农场饲养着大量绵羊，它们受到影响的比例比较低；但即使在该国，受影响农场比例的增长速度还是令人担心。

　　Cattle, too, are afflicted¹⁰. Dr Kaplan cites work done in Argentina, Brazil and New Zealand. And horses suffer as well, with resistant worms turning up in both America and Europe.

　　家牛也身受其害。卡普兰博士引用了在阿根廷、巴西和新西兰所做的研究工作。马也是受害者，美国与欧洲的马身上都发现了抗药寄生虫。

　　The root of the problem is what Dr Kaplan refers to as "global worming"-giving drugs prophylactically¹¹ to all livestock¹² rather than reserving them for use as a treatment when an animal actually becomes infested. It is common sense, of course, to try to prevent infestation¹³ rather than merely treating it once it has arisen.

　　问题的根源是卡普兰博士称为"全球防虫"的现象——预防性地对所有家畜用药，而不是在动物身上真正出现了寄生虫时投药治疗。当然，防病胜于治病是常识。

　　Unfortunately, such promiscuous¹⁴ use of drugs is the best way to put selection pressure on the worms and encourage the evolution of resistant strains.

　　不幸的是，这样的预防性用药是在寄生虫身上施加选择压力的最佳方法，能够促进抗药品种的进化。

　　What is needed, says Dr Kaplan, is more selective drug use, and better management. Worms are not evenly distributed. Instead, a minority of animals play host to most of them. Aiming treatment at those animals would reduce the likelihood of resistance emerging without harming a farmer's ability to control infestations¹⁵. Better husbandry might help, too. Not grazing so many animals on a given patch of land would discourage transmission.

　　卡普兰博士认为，现在需要做的是加强管理与更有选择性地用药。寄生虫并非均匀寄生在各种动物身上。有少数动物是大多数寄生虫的寄主。集中治疗这些动物则会降低耐药性发生的可能性，同时也不会损害农民控制虫害的能力。改进饲养方法或许也有益处。不在一块草地上过量放牧动物会减轻虫害传播。

　　That, though, would bring problems of its own, as it would reduce the number of animals which could be raised on a given farm. Which leads to the nub of the issue: it is hard to work out exactly how much damage resistant worms are doing, and thus how much effort should be put into trying to stop the spread of resistance-not least because, as Dr Kaplan found out when he conducted his survey, the data are pretty sporadic¹⁶. But they are worrying enough to be worth following up, for if resistance did get out of hand the consequences could be very expensive indeed.

　　但这本身也会带来问题，因为这会减少一座农场能饲养的家畜数目。这就引出了问题的症结：人们很难确定抗药寄生虫会造成多大的危害，因此也不知道该花多少代价来阻止抗药性蔓延，因为很重要的是，卡普兰博士在纵观研究结果时发现有关数据相当零散。但这些数据还是很令人忧虑，值得进一步跟踪，因为一旦人们无法控制抗药性，就确实可能会付出惨重的代价。

　　No one farmer is to blame. This is a tragedy of the commons, in which sensible individual decisions have led to a collective difficulty. But it might behove farmers to think more about how they use anti-worm drugs. If they do not, they may find that those drugs have become useless.

　　无法就此责备某个农民。这是一个公地悲剧 [注]，许多明智的个人决定导致了群体的困难。但或许农民们有责任多想想他们应该如何使用抗寄生虫药物。如果放弃这一责任，他们或许有一天会发现这些药物变得全然无用。

1 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

2 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

5 infest   

v.大批出没于；侵扰；寄生于

参考例句：

• Several animals in sea water can infest wood.海水中有好多动物能侵害木材。
• A lame cat is better than a swift horse when rats infest the palace.宫殿有鼠患，瘸猫比快马强。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

8 infested   

adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于

参考例句：

• The kitchen was infested with ants. 厨房里到处是蚂蚁。
• The apartments were infested with rats and roaches. 公寓里面到处都是老鼠和蟑螂。

9 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

10 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

11 prophylactically   

[医]adv.预防地，预防上

参考例句：

• All agents used to combat motion sickness should be given prophylactically. 所有用作抗晕动病的药物，都应采取预防给药。 来自辞典例句
• But some authors suggest to prophylactically irradiate the the whole neck. 但有些研究者主张行全颈预防照射。 来自互联网

12 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

13 infestation   

n.侵扰，蔓延

参考例句：

• The premises were treated for cockroach infestation.因蟑螂成灾，这些房屋集中进行了灭蟑活动。
• Parts of California are suffering from an infestation of oriental fruit flies.加利福尼亚的部分地区正遭受东方果蝇的大肆侵袭。

14 promiscuous   

adj.杂乱的，随便的

参考例句：

• They were taking a promiscuous stroll when it began to rain.他们正在那漫无目的地散步，突然下起雨来。
• Alec know that she was promiscuous and superficial.亚历克知道她是乱七八糟和浅薄的。

15 infestations   

n.（害虫、盗贼等）群袭，出没，横行( infestation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The arrival of warm weather raises the specter of disease and increased rat infestations caused by rotting garbage. 天气转暖使人们担心垃圾腐烂会引起疾病传播和鼠群猖獗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Piperazine citrate is the drug of choice in the treatment of Ascaris infestations. 枸橼酸哌嗪治疗蛔虫感染是最好的药物。 来自辞典例句

16 sporadic   

adj.偶尔发生的 [反]regular；分散的

参考例句：

• The sound of sporadic shooting could still be heard.仍能听见零星的枪声。
• You know this better than I.I received only sporadic news about it.你们比我更清楚，而我听到的只是零星消息。