科学美国人60秒 SSS 服务员,寿司里为什么有虫子?

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Wayt Gibbs.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是维特·吉布斯。

I'm a big fan of sushi and ceviche,

我特别爱吃寿司和柠汁腌鱼生，

so I was alarmed to see the headline on a recent news release from the University of Washington stating that "'sushi parasites²' have increased 283-fold in past 40 years."

因此在看到华盛顿大学最近一篇新闻的标题是“寿司寄生虫在过去40年里增长了283倍”时，我感到非常震惊。

But after digging into the research, which came out of a marine³ ecology lab run by Chelsea Wood at UW's Seattle campus,

但在深入钻研了这篇由华盛顿大学西雅图分校的切尔西·伍德负责的海洋生物实验室发布的研究之后，

I learned that the rising abundance of marine worms known as anisakids is actually less of a problem for people than it is for whales and dolphins,

我了解到，就数量不断增加的异尖线虫而言，人类面临的风险要小于鲸鱼和海豚，

which are the natural hosts infected by these parasites.

而这两种动物是这些寄生虫的天然宿主。

Wood's team did what's known as a meta-analysis.

伍德的团队进行了元分析。

They collected data from 123 papers published over the past half-century

他们收集了过去50年中发表的123篇论文，

that estimated parasite¹ abundance in various species at sites all over the world between 1967 and 2017.

这些文章估算了1967年至2017年期间全世界各种寄生虫的数量。

Their analysis, published last month in the journal Global Change Biology,

他们这篇文章于上个月发表在《全球变化生物学》期刊上，

found that since 1978, when less than one worm was seen in every 100 host animals on average,

文章发现，1978年时平均100只宿主动物中只有不到1只蠕虫，

the prevalence of anisakid parasite infection has skyrocketed to the point that more than one worm is now typically seen in every host animal examined in 2015.

而之后异尖科寄生虫感染率激增，到2015年每1只被检测的宿主动物中的蠕虫数都多于1条。

Anisakid worms grow in the guts⁵ of whales, spread to krill through the whales' poop

异尖科蠕虫生长在鲸鱼的肠道中，通过鲸鱼的粪便传播到磷虾体内，

and then move up the food chain to squid and small fish like anchovies⁶,

之后在食物链上攀升到鱿鱼和凤尾鱼等小鱼身上，

then to big fish like salmon⁷, tuna, and halibut and, finally, to humans.

然后再移动到鲑鱼、金枪鱼和大比目鱼等大型鱼类身上，最后传播到人类体内。

In the U.S. and most parts of Europe, fish and squid served raw must first be frozen to kill the nematodes and their larvae⁸,

在美国和欧洲大部分地区，供生食的鱼和鱿鱼必须先冷冻杀死线虫及其幼虫，

which are big enough to see with the naked eye.

而线虫及其幼虫的体型大到人的肉眼就能看到。

And even if you're unlucky enough to eat live anisakid larvae in your sushi, ceviche, or gravlax, you'll probably be fine.

即使你运气不好，吃到了寿司、柠汁腌鱼生或腌制三文鱼中的活的异尖线虫幼虫，你可能也没事。

The worms rarely survive long in the human gut⁴ to cause anisakiasis, which typically involves abdominal⁹ pain and vomiting¹⁰.

蠕虫极少在人类肠道中长时间存活，不会让你患上会腹痛呕吐的异尖线虫病。

The condition seems to be most common in Spain due to Spaniards fondness for raw anchovies.

由于西班牙人喜欢生凤尾鱼，因此这种病在西班牙似乎最为常见。

Experts estimate there are roughly 8,000 cases a year in Spain—that works out to about one illness for every 10,000 meals of raw fish eaten.

专家估计，西班牙每年大约有8000例病例，相当于每吃1万次生鱼就会产生约1个病例。

Chelsea Wood says the findings haven't put her off eating sushi.

切尔西·伍德表示，研究结果并未让她对寿司失去兴趣。

Her concern is that the rising abundance of anisakids might be harming the dolphins and whales that these parasites evolved to infect and grow inside for years.

她担心的是，异尖线虫数量日益增加能会伤害海豚和鲸鱼，这些寄生虫经过进化会感染它们，并在其体内生长多年。

She notes that there are millions of species of parasites in the ocean, and we know very little about which ones are becoming more common.

她指出，海洋中有数百万种寄生虫，我们对哪些寄生虫会越来越普遍知之甚少。

The epidemiology of the oceans is still in its infancy¹¹.

海洋流行病学的研究尚处于初级阶段。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Wayt Gibbs.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是维特·吉布斯。

1 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

2 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。

3 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

4 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

5 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 anchovies   

n. 鯷鱼，凤尾鱼

参考例句：

• a pizza topped with cheese and anchovies 奶酪鳀鱼比萨饼
• Pesto, mozzarella, parma ham, sun dried tomatoes, egg, anchovies. 核桃香蒜，马苏里拉，巴马火腿，干番茄，鸡蛋，咸鱼。

7 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

8 larvae   

n.幼虫

参考例句：

• Larvae are parasitic on sheep.幼虫寄生在绵羊的身上。
• The larvae prey upon small aphids.这种幼虫以小蚜虫为食。

9 abdominal   

adj.腹（部）的，下腹的；n.腹肌

参考例句：

• The abdominal aorta is normally smaller than the thoracic aorta.腹主动脉一般比胸主动脉小。
• Abdominal tissues sometimes adhere after an operation.手术之后腹部有时会出现粘连。

10 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

11 infancy   

n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期

参考例句：

• He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。
• Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。