蚊子能傳播疾病，似乎也能阻斷它

一種似乎能阻止蚊子傳播瘧疾的微生物被發(fā)現(xiàn)了

In 2018, the World Health Organisation estimated 228 million cases of the mosquito-borne disease, and 405,000 deaths.

2018，世界衛(wèi)生組織估計(jì)有2.28億例蚊媒疾病，405000人死亡。

But a new study may have found a brand new, highly effective way to stop the spread – and it was inside the mosquito all along.

但一項(xiàng)新的研究可能已經(jīng)找到了一種全新的、高效的方法來阻止這種傳播，而且這種方法一直存在于蚊子體內(nèi)。

The team discovered that a new type of spore-forming single-celled microbe found in mosquitoes, which they've called Microsporidia MB, has the amazing ability to stop the transmission of Plasmodium falciparum – the parasitic protozoan which causes most malaria cases.

研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，在蚊子體內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)的一種新型單細(xì)胞孢子菌，他們稱之為微孢子菌MB，有阻止惡性瘧原蟲傳播的驚人能力，惡性瘧原蟲是導(dǎo)致大多數(shù)瘧疾病例的寄生原生動(dòng)物。

It also doesn't seem to hurt the mosquito, meaning that if we can increase the prevalence of Microsporidia MB in local mosquito populations, it could be a good way to stop malaria in its tracks without having to mess up the rest of the ecosystem.

它似乎也不會(huì)傷害蚊子，也就是說，如果我們能在當(dāng)?shù)匚米臃N群中增加微孢子蟲MB的流行率，這可能是在不破壞整個(gè)生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的情況下制止瘧疾的好方法。

The idea that a mosquito microbe could be stopping the transmission of a disease isn't exactly new. Wolbachia, a genus of bacteria that naturally occurs in mosquito populations, has shown incredible potential for wiping out dengue and other mosquito-borne infections.

蚊子的微生物可以阻止疾病傳播的想法并不新鮮。沃爾巴克氏菌Wolbachia是一種自然存在于蚊子種群中的細(xì)菌，在消滅登革熱和其他蚊媒傳染病方面顯示出巨大的潛力。

This research is currently in its early stages – but the team found that when they analysed mosquitoes taken from field studies in Kenya, those with Microsporidia MB did not have the malaria parasite. Even when they let the mosquitoes drink infected blood, the mosquitoes with Microsporidia MB had reduced levels of infection and no signs of the malaria parasite's spores were detected.

這項(xiàng)研究目前尚處于初期階段-但研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)他們對(duì)肯尼亞實(shí)地調(diào)查中的蚊子進(jìn)行分析時(shí)，患有微孢子蟲MB的蚊子沒有瘧疾寄生蟲。即使當(dāng)它們讓蚊子喝被感染的血液時(shí)，帶有微孢子蟲MB的蚊子 的感染水平也降低了，并且沒有檢測(cè)到瘧原蟲的孢子的跡象。

Because Microsporidia MB is passed down the maternal line, once it's in the mosquito population, it's unlikely to be going anywhere. The team found that some areas they tested already had nine percent of the mosquito population with the malaria-busting microbe.

由于 微孢子蟲MB沿著母系傳播，一旦進(jìn)入蚊子種群，它就不可能流向其他任何地方。研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們所測(cè)試的一些地區(qū)已經(jīng)有9%的蚊子具有抗瘧疾的微生物。

The team hopes that with more research we can find out if it's possible to increase the amount of Microsporidia MB in the mosquito population – with the eventual goal of lowering rates of malaria.

研究小組希望，通過更多的研究，我們能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)是否有可能增加蚊子種群中的微孢子蟲MB數(shù)量，最終目標(biāo)是降低瘧疾發(fā)病率。

The research has been published in Nature Communications.

這項(xiàng)研究已發(fā)表在《自然通訊》雜志上。