美国国家公共电台 NPR Medieval Leprosy Lurks In British Squirrels

Medieval Leprosy Lurks¹ In British Squirrels

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When you hear the word leprosy, you might think of a bygone disease or one that exists only in a handful of places. Now scientists say an ancient form of leprosy may still be present and circulating in parts of Europe. NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff has the story.

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE³: The word leprosy comes from the Latin term for scaly⁴ because scaly ulcers⁵ erupt over the body and face when you get leprosy. But Stewart Cole at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology says there's a bigger problem with the disease - people lose the ability to feel pain.

STEWART COLE: For instance, they can't feel heat anymore, so they could burn themselves. Or they could cut themselves and they don't feel the pain. And then this will lead to loss of fingers or toes.

DOUCLEFF: Leprosy has been around for thousands of years, and doctors pretty much thought they had it figured out. They can cure it with antibiotics⁶, and they're even trying to eliminate it because leprosy was thought to live almost exclusively in people. So unlike, say, rabies, which also infects animals, if you get rid of the leprosy in people, the disease is gone forever. Then a few years ago, a curious study came out. It showed that right here in the U.S., armadillos were infecting people with leprosy, most likely from hunting and eating them. Now Cole and his team have found another place leprosy is hiding out.

COLE: In red squirrels.

DOUCLEFF: Yep, red squirrels in the U.K. And here's the kicker - some of the leprosy in the squirrels matches that found in a skeleton buried 700 years ago.

COLE: The very same strain which had caused disease in humans, you know, back in the Middle Ages was still present in these squirrels. That for me was a real gobsmacker.

DOUCLEFF: Gobsmacker indeed. Richard Truman leads a leprosy research project in Baton⁷ Rouge⁸. He says the new findings published in the journal Science suggest leprosy might be hiding out in other rodents⁹ in many parts of the world.

RICHARD TRUMAN: And I think that that's paradigm-shifting for leprosy altogether. And in fact, one of the great mysteries of leprosy is how this disease can persist for such long periods of time. Where does it hang out? Where does it hide?

DOUCLEFF: And, he says, it just goes to show even after a disease looks like it's gone, it could be right outside your window, sitting in a tree.

Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR News.

1 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 scaly   

adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的

参考例句：

• Reptiles possess a scaly,dry skin.爬行类具有覆盖着鳞片的干燥皮肤。
• The iron pipe is scaly with rust.铁管子因为生锈一片片剥落了。

5 ulcers   

n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败

参考例句：

• Detachment of the dead cells produces erosions and ulcers. 死亡细胞的脱落，产生糜烂和溃疡。 来自辞典例句
• 75% of postbulbar ulcers occur proximal to the duodenal papilla. 75％的球后溃疡发生在十二指肠乳头近侧。 来自辞典例句

6 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

7 baton   

n.乐队用指挥杖

参考例句：

• With the baton the conductor was beating time.乐队指挥用指挥棒打拍子。
• The conductor waved his baton,and the band started up.指挥挥动指挥棒，乐队开始演奏起来。

8 rouge   

n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红

参考例句：

• Women put rouge on their cheeks to make their faces pretty.女人往面颊上涂胭脂，使脸更漂亮。
• She didn't need any powder or lip rouge to make her pretty.她天生漂亮，不需要任何脂粉唇膏打扮自己。

9 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句