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Malarial Mice Smell Better to Mosquitoes
患上疟疾是会发臭的。对，你没听错！
Getting malaria stinks. Literally. According to a new study, malaria victims give off odors that attracts mosquitoes. And the insects that feed on the infected sufferer are then more likely to spread the disease.The work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [Consuelo M. De Moraes et al, Malaria-induced changes in host odors enhance mosquito attraction]
根据一项最新的研究显示，患有疟疾的人身上散发的气味更容易吸引蚊子。因而蚊子这类依靠人类生存的昆虫就会传播更多疾病。这项调查结果发布在美国国家科学院的会议记录中。
Malaria is caused by plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted by mosquitoes. A decade ago, scientists found that Kenyan kids infected with plasmodium were more attractive to mosquitos than were kids who were parasite-free. But they did not know what drew the bloodsuckers to the unfortunate infected children.
疟疾是由疟原虫这种寄生虫引发并靠蚊子传播的。十年前，科学家在肯尼亚有过这样的发现：相对于体内没有寄生虫的孩子，患有寄生虫病的儿童对蚊子有更强烈的吸引力。但他们不知道的是究竟是什么让这些嗜血的蚊子更青睐这群患病的孩子。
To find out, researchers took mice that harbored the rodent version of malaria and put the animals in a wind chamber. And they found that mosquitos flocked toward the infected animals, attracted by their smell alone.
为了一探究竟，研究人员将携有啮齿类疟疾的老鼠放进风箱里。结果，他们发现蚊子都向这些老鼠聚集，原来，吸引它们的仅仅是这些患病老鼠的气味。
By chemically analyzing the animals’ scents, the researchers found that the parasites boost the levels ofa variety of odorous compounds that attract mosquitoes. So plasmodium is manipulating both its victim and its carrier to get itself spread far and wide.
通过对这些老鼠气味的化学分析，研究人员发现寄生虫增加了吸引蚊子的气体的浓度。所以，可以说寄生虫通过操控它的携带者和传播者将自己传向四面八方。
The finding may help with malaria prevention: if we can mask or harness the eau d’ infection, maybe we could nose the mosquitoes away from people.
这项发现可以帮助人们预防疟疾。比如，遮盖住自己的身体，喷上些淡香水都可以使蚊子远离我们。
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American 60 Seconds,Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
感谢收听科学美国人，我是凯伦·霍普金。
