密歇根新闻广播 白鼻病使蝙蝠大量死亡 新证据带来一线希望

There's some hopeful news about a disease that's killing¹ bats.

White-nose syndrome² is killing millions of bats in 29 states including Michigan, and five Canadian provinces. It's a disease caused by a fungus³.

But there might be a glimmer⁴ of hope. Researchers have found some bats in the U.S. appear to have developed resistance to the disease.

Kate Langwig is the lead author of this new study. She studies communicable diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Langwig says she and her team studied populations of little brown bats, which were previously⁵ one of the most abundant bat species across eastern North America.

"And what we found was that populations in New York that were persisting with the disease, and the disease had been there for at least four years, had developed much lower fungal loads at the end of the hibernation⁶ season than populations where white-nose syndrome was epidemic⁷ or causing mass mortality," she says.

She says this means that there's evidence that these populations are developing resistance to the disease.

"We're not exactly sure what the mechanism⁸ is. But it does seem that the New York bats, at least in the populations that we examined, all seemed to developed some kind of resistance strategy for coping with this fungal infection," says Langwig.

She says they don't know whether other kinds of bats in North America might be able to fend⁹ off white-nose syndrome. Some species of bats, such as the northern long-eared bat, have been hit especially hard by the disease.

"I think until we get a bit more information about how likely this mechanism is to happen across a broad spatial¹⁰ scale, it's still an outstanding question about whether or not resistance can develop across the United States," says Langwig.

You can listen to the interview with Kate Langwig above.

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

3 fungus   

n.真菌，真菌类植物

参考例句：

• Mushrooms are a type of fungus.蘑菇是一种真菌。
• This fungus can just be detected by the unaided eye.这种真菌只用肉眼就能检查出。

4 glimmer   

v.发出闪烁的微光；n.微光，微弱的闪光

参考例句：

• I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她，感到了一线希望。
• A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 hibernation   

n.冬眠

参考例句：

• Bears wake up in the spring after a winter of hibernation.熊经过一个冬天的冬眠后在春季苏醒。
• The tortoise spends the winter months in hibernation.乌龟在冬眠中度过寒冬季节。

7 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。

8 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

9 fend   

v.照料（自己），（自己）谋生，挡开，避开

参考例句：

• I've had to fend for myself since I was 14.我从十四岁时起就不得不照料自己。
• He raised his arm up to fend branches from his eyes.他举手将树枝从他眼前挡开。

10 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。