VOA标准英语2010年-Amazon Deforestation Sparks Surge in M

Deforestation is one of the big culprits in climate change. And now a new study from the Amazon links deforestation with an increase in malaria¹.

Despite eradication² efforts, malaria remains³ a significant health problem in Brazil. There are around a half-million cases a year, mostly in the Amazon basin, a region heavily affected⁴ by deforestation.

Sarah Olson and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin used satellite data to assess loss of forests and combined that with government surveys of malaria cases.

"We show that a five percent increase in deforestation was associated with a 50 percent increase of malaria risk in these health districts," said Olson.

She says the apparent explanation is that the mosquitoes that transmit malaria like the landscape that's left after the forests have been cleared.

"The habitat preference for this mosquito appears to be these partially-sunlit pools of water for the larvae⁵. And that's the type of thing that we get when we start deforesting an area, and deforestation creates the ideal habitat," says Olson.

This is not the first study to show a link between deforestation and malaria, but Olson says her study is notable because of the rigorous way Brazilian health officials gathered the malaria data.

"This is super-high quality, and all of the cases are slide-confirmed. That means they take a drop of blood and they look at it under a microscope, and they can confirm that this was an actual case of malaria. Whereas a lot of studies are limited to basically asking, 'Did you have a fever in the last month or six months?'"

Sarah Olson's study appears in the July issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, which is published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 eradication   

n.根除

参考例句：

• The eradication of an established infestation is not easy. 根除昆虫蔓延是不容易的。
• This is often required for intelligent control and eradication. 这经常需要灵巧的控制与消除。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 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。

5 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。