气候危机如何加速致命登革热的全球传播

气候危机如何加速致命登革热的全球传播

Explosive outbreaks of dengue fever have rapidly spread in countries across Asia, killing more than 1,000 people, infecting hundreds of thousands and straining hospitals packed with sick families.

登革热疫情在亚洲各国迅速蔓延，造成1000多人死亡，数十万人感染，医院挤满了病人，已不堪重负。

Images from Bangladesh show patients in teeming hospital wards, lying beneath mosquito nets under lurid electric strip lights.

来自孟加拉国的图片显示，在拥挤的医院病房里，病人们躺在刺眼的灯光照射下的蚊帐里。

Mothers cool their children with hand-held fans while others rest on hospital floors, holding drips, waiting for a free bed.

母亲们用手持电风扇给孩子降温，而其他人则在医院的地板上打点滴，等待免费的床位。

This is the worst outbreak Bangladesh has ever seen. Five times as many people were infected in August than the whole of 2018, and so far this year 57 people have died.

这是孟加拉国有史以来最严重的疫情。8月份感染人数是2018年全年的5倍，今年迄今已有57人死亡。

It's a similar story across the region. Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam have all reported higher than normal cases of the disease and deaths compared to last year. And the Philippines has declared a national dengue epidemic -- 1,107 people have died there since the start of the year and more than 250,000 have been infected.

整个地区发生类似的情况。与去年相比，柬埔寨、老挝、马来西亚、新加坡、斯里兰卡、泰国和越南都报告了高于正常病例和死亡人数的病例。菲律宾已宣布登革热为全国性流行病——自年初以来，已有1107人死亡，超过25万人感染。

Dengue is a seasonal, mosquito-borne disease commonly found in hot, wet regions of the tropics and subtropics during the rainy months.

登革热是一种季节性的蚊虫传播疾病，常见于炎热潮湿的热带和亚热带地区的雨季。

The 'break-bone' fever and climate crisis

“骨折热”和气候危机

Dengue is a viral infection transmitted by the Aedes mosquito, the same insect responsible for spreading Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever. It causes flu-like symptoms, including piercing headaches, muscle and joint pains, fever and rashes, though only 25% of those infected show symptoms. Extreme cases can bring bleeding, shock, organ failure, and potentially death.

登革热是一种由伊蚊传播的病毒感染，伊蚊是传播寨卡病毒、基孔肯雅热和黄热病的罪魁祸首。它会引起类似流感的症状，包括刺痛性头痛、肌肉和关节痛、发烧和皮疹，但只有25%的感染者会出现症状。极端情况可能导致出血、休克、器官衰竭，甚至死亡。

It's the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in the world, increasing 30-fold in the past 50 years. While it was once found in only nine countries, today the disease is endemic in more than 100 -- putting more than half the world's population at risk, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

它是世界上传播速度最快的蚊虫传播病毒疾病，在过去50年里增长了30倍。世界卫生组织(WHO)的数据显示，虽然寨卡病毒曾经只在9个国家发现，但如今它已在100多个国家流行，使全球一半以上的人口处于危险之中。

There have been numerous studies on the link between climate change and mosquito-borne diseases and experts say the climate crisis is playing a major role in dengue's spread.

关于气候变化与蚊虫传播疾病之间的关系，已有大量研究，专家表示，气候危机在登革热的传播中发挥了重要作用。

Scientists have repeatedly warned that rising temperatures are triggering more extreme weather events, and a warmer, wetter world could put us at greater risk of vector-borne diseases -- those transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks or other organisms.

科学家们一再警告说，不断上升的气温正在引发更多极端天气事件，而一个更温暖、更潮湿的世界可能会让我们面临更大的风险，患上由蚊虫、蜱虫或其他生物体传播的病媒传播疾病。

Erratic weather makes it harder to predict outbreaks

不稳定的天气使得预测疫情更加困难

Since the start of the year, more than 7 million people have been displaced worldwide as a result of disasters such as flooding, cyclones, and droughts -- a phenomenon described by the researchers at Internal Displacement as becoming the norm.

自今年年初以来，全球已有700多万人因洪水、飓风和干旱等灾害而流离失所。研究人员称，国内流离失所现象已成为常态。

"Climate change is altering weather patterns across the globe. We're having less predictable extreme events," said Dr. Rachel Lowe of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“气候变化正在改变全球的气候模式。我们正在经历难以预测的极端事件，”伦敦卫生和热带医学院的雷切尔·洛博士说。

Lowe said that these changing patterns can cause the dengue season to shift "making it harder to know when and where an epidemic might occur."

洛说，这些变化的模式可能导致登革热发生季节性变化，“使人们更难知道疫情可能在何时何地发生”。

Modern lifestyles are also to blame

现代生活方式也是原因之一

But climate is just one factor in dengue's spread. We travel around a lot more than 50 years ago and it's not just souvenirs that we bring back from trips abroad.

但是气候只是登革热传播的一个因素。50多年前，我们到处旅行，从国外旅行回来的不仅仅是纪念品。

"People are able to travel across the globe within a few hours and that certainly facilitates the spread of dengue and can allow the virus to establish in places where it wasn't before," Lowe said.

洛说:“人们可以在几个小时内环游世界，这肯定会促进登革热的传播，并使病毒在以前没有出现过的地方扎根。”