VOA科学技术2023 巴西科学家为濒危猴子接种疫苗（在线收听）

Brazilian Scientists Work to Vaccinate Endangered Monkeys

巴西科学家为濒危猴子接种疫苗

Animal experts in Brazil are treating endangered wild monkeys with a vaccine against yellow fever. The disease is severely threatening the golden lion tamarin population.

巴西的动物专家正在用黄热病疫苗治疗濒危野生猴子。这种疾病严重威胁着金狮柽柳种群。

The little monkeys live in the rainforest of southeastern Brazil. They weigh about one kilogram.

这些小猴子生活在巴西东南部的雨林中。它们重约一公斤。

Yellow fever began to spread in Brazil in 2016. More than 2,000 people got sick, and 750 died.

2016年，黄热病开始在巴西传播。2000多人患病，750人死亡。

Monkeys got sick, too. The disease killed about one-third of the golden lion tamarin population. And, the population was small even before the outbreak. So, scientists created a vaccine to protect the monkeys.

猴子也生病了。这种疾病导致大约三分之一的金狮柽柳种群死亡。而且，即使在疫情爆发之前，人口也很少。因此，科学家们发明了一种保护猴子的疫苗。

The vaccination campaign began last year. So far, about 300 animals have gotten shots and are reported to be doing well. But, the treatment represents a change in thinking among supporters of wildlife conservation.

疫苗接种运动从去年开始。到目前为止，大约有300只动物接种了疫苗，据报道情况良好。但是，这种处理方式代表了野生动物保护支持者的思想转变。

Historically, conservationists have believed that humans should not interfere directly with wildlife. A traditional saying in the world of conservation work is "Leave it be."

历史上，自然保护主义者一直认为人类不应直接干预野生动物。保护工作界的传统说法是“顺其自然”

Vaccination idea

疫苗接种理念

Vaccinating animals to protect their species from extinction is a new idea, said Luis Paulo Ferraz, President of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association. The non-profit group is working to save the monkeys.

金狮柽柳协会主席路易斯·保罗·费拉兹表示，为动物接种疫苗以保护其物种免于灭绝是一个新想法。这个非营利组织正在努力拯救猴子。

The vaccination effort has raised questions about how far humans should go to save wild animals. Some conservationists now believe humans should use their latest scientific developments to save animals.

疫苗接种工作引发了人们对人类应该在多大程度上拯救野生动物的疑问。一些自然保护主义者现在认为，人类应该利用最新的科学发展来拯救动物。

They argue that humanity already negatively interferes with animals all over the world by developing in areas where they live. So, if humans have the ability to help animals with a shot, they should do so.

他们认为，人类在动物生活的地区发展，已经对世界各地的动物产生了负面影响。因此，如果人类有能力帮助动物射击，他们应该这样做。

Tony Goldberg is a scientist and animal doctor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He believes in vaccinating wild animals when possible.

托尼·戈德伯格是威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的科学家和动物博士。他相信在可能的情况下给野生动物接种疫苗。

"There are people who say we shouldn't touch nature, that we shouldn't alter anything. But really, there are no pristine natural habitats left," he said. People are "realizing they have to do something," he added.

他说：“有些人说我们不应该触摸大自然，我们不应该改变任何东西。但事实上，这里已经没有原始的自然栖息地了。”。他补充道，人们“意识到他们必须做些什么”。

Carlos R. Ruiz-Miranda agrees. He is a biologist at the State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro. He has been working to protect the monkeys.

卡洛斯·R·鲁伊兹·米兰达同意。他是北里约热内卢州立大学的生物学家。他一直在努力保护猴子。

The scientist explained how human movement is mainly responsible for the fast and wide spread of yellow fever.

这位科学家解释了人类运动是黄热病快速广泛传播的主要原因。

"This epidemic moved very quickly from north to south, across the country – no wildlife does that," said Ruiz-Miranda. "It's people. They cross vast distances in buses, trains, planes. They bring the disease with them."

鲁伊兹·米兰达说：“这种流行病从北到南，在全国范围内迅速蔓延——没有野生动物能做到这一点。”。“是人。他们乘坐公共汽车、火车、飞机穿越很远的距离。他们带来了疾病。”

"We realized that in five years, we could lose the entire population if we did nothing" said Ferraz, of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association.

金狮塔玛林协会的费拉兹说：“我们意识到，五年后，如果我们不采取任何措施，我们可能会失去整个人口。”。

Andreia Martins is a biologist for the Golden Lion Tamarin Association. It was only because of her work that people knew how many monkeys died from the recent spread of yellow fever. The first monkey died in 2018, and then the total number of tamarins dropped to 2,500.

安德烈亚·马丁斯是金狮柽柳协会的生物学家。正是因为她的工作，人们才知道最近有多少猴子死于黄热病的蔓延。第一只猴子于2018年死亡，随后柽柳的总数降至2500只。

At the time of the yellow fever outbreak, Marcos da Silva Freire was a deputy director of technological development at Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. It oversees vaccine testing and production in the country.

在黄热病爆发时，马科斯·达席尔瓦·弗雷雷是巴西奥斯瓦尔多·克鲁兹基金会技术开发副主任。它监督该国的疫苗测试和生产。

Freire organized testing of yellow fever vaccines for monkeys with the Primate Center of Rio de Janeiro. The vaccine led to antibodies in the tested monkeys and caused no harm, the scientists found. Freire and his team won government approval to treat wild golden lion tamarins soon after.

弗雷雷在里约热内卢灵长类动物中心组织了猴子黄热病疫苗的测试。科学家们发现，这种疫苗在被测试的猴子身上产生了抗体，并没有造成任何伤害。不久后，弗雷雷和他的团队获得了政府批准，可以治疗野生金狮柽柳。

So far, about 300 have been vaccinated and are reported to be doing well. Tests show that more than 90 percent of the monkeys have immunity, or resistance to the virus, since vaccination.

到目前为止，大约有300人接种了疫苗，据报道情况良好。测试表明，自接种疫苗以来，90%以上的猴子对病毒具有免疫力或抵抗力。

The outbreak of yellow fever is no longer a big problem for the monkeys, and their population is starting to come back. But, even with the success of the vaccine program, scientists are still not sure about creating vaccines for other animals.

黄热病的爆发对猴子来说不再是大问题，它们的数量开始回升。但是，即使疫苗计划取得了成功，科学家们仍不确定能否为其他动物研制疫苗。

Jacob Negrey is a biologist who studies monkeys. He works at Wake Forest University's medical school. He wondered about unpredictable effects of such wildlife treatment. He explained that you might create a treatment that helps one kind of animal, but hurts another.

雅各布·奈格里是一位研究猴子的生物学家。他在威克森林大学的医学院工作。他想知道这种野生动物治疗的不可预测的影响。他解释说，你可以创造一种治疗方法，帮助一种动物，但伤害另一种动物。

Words in This Story

extinction –n. the situation where a plant or animal has died out completely

negatively –adj. to have a bad effect on something

alter –v. to change something

pristine –adj. perfect or unt