Hadyn Parry: Re-engineering mosquitos to fight disease

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

譯者: shi yan liu 審譯者: Yukun Chen

So I'd like to start by focusing on

現在開始， 我要著重談一談

the world's most dangerous animal.

一種世界上最危險的動物。

Now, when you talk about dangerous animals,

此時此刻，當人們說起什麽是危險的動物，

most people might think of lions or tigers or sharks.

大多數人也許會想到獅子或者老虎或者鯊魚。

But of course the most dangerous animal

但是，毋庸置疑，那種最危險的動物

is the mosquito.

是蚊子。

The mosquito has killed more humans

在漫長的人類歷史長河裡，

than any other creature in human history.

蚊子比其他動物殺掉了更多的人類。

In fact, probably adding them all together,

實際上，也許把所有被其他動物殺死的人數加起來的總和，

the mosquito has killed more humans.

也不會多於僅是被蚊子幹掉的人類性命的數量。

And the mosquito has killed more humans than wars

並且被蚊子殺死的人類多於在戰爭和

and plague.

瘟疫里死亡的人類。

And you would think, would you not,

也許你會情不自禁地想，

that with all our science, with all our advances in society,

以我們所擁有的科技，以我們所有的社會進步，

with better towns, better civilizations, better sanitation,

更好的生活城鎮， 更好的文明， 更好的衛生條件，

wealth, that we would get better at controlling mosquitos,

更多的財富，我們應該可以更好地控制蚊子的數量，

and hence reduce this disease.

並因此減少蚊子所帶來的疾病。

And that's not really the case.

但是事實並非全如此。

If it was the case, we wouldn't have

如果我們可以控制蚊子的數量，這個世界上就不會

between 200 and 300 million cases of malaria every year,

每年都有2到3億的人口被瘧疾所侵害，

and we wouldn't have

我們也不會有

a million and a half deaths from malaria,

150萬人口每年死於瘧疾，

and we wouldn't have a disease

我們更不會有一種疾病，

that was relatively unknown 50 years ago

在大約50年前還不為人所知，

now suddenly turned into

但是在一夜之間，成為

the largest mosquito-borne virus threat that we have,

由蚊子傳播的病毒裡，最為危險的一種，

and that's called dengue fever.

這種疾病的名字叫做登革熱。

So 50 years ago, pretty much no one had heard of it,

在50年前，幾乎沒有一個人聽說過這個名字，

no one certainly in the European environment.

確切地說，沒有一個生活在歐洲的人聽說過這個名字。

But dengue fever now, according to the World Health Organization,

但是，根據世界衛生組織的報告，迄今為止，

infects between 50 and 100 million people every year,

每年有5千萬至一億的人感染登革熱，

so that's equivalent to the whole of the population

這個數量相當於整個

of the U.K. being infected every year.

英國的人口每年都被感染登革熱。

Other estimates put that number at roughly double

其他的估計顯示，大概每年被感染的人數

that number of infections.

是世界衛生組織所報告人數的兩倍。

And dengue fever has grown in speed quite phenomenally.

並且，登革熱傳播的速度是異常的快。

In the last 50 years, the incidence of dengue

在過去50年間，登革熱的發生率

has grown thirtyfold.

已經翻了三十倍。

Now let me tell you a little bit about what dengue fever is,

現在，讓我給你們一點點關於登革熱的知識，

for those who don't know.

特別是要給那些還不知道它是什麽的人們。

Now let's assume you go on holiday.

現在假設你要去度假，

Let's assume you go to the Caribbean,

假設你要去加勒比海度假，

or you might go to Mexico. You might go to Latin America,

或這假設你去墨西哥。或者，你去拉丁美洲，

Asia, Africa, anywhere in Saudi Arabia.

亞洲，非洲，或者沙烏地阿拉伯任何一個地方。

You might go to India, the Far East.

或者是去印度，遠東地區。

It doesn't really matter. It's the same mosquito,

不管是你去哪裡，其實都無所謂。因為在任何一個地方，都是同一種蚊子，

and it's the same disease. You're at risk.

和同一種由那種蚊子傳播的疾病。 你都有危險會被感染到。

And let's assume you're bitten by a mosquito

現在假設你被一隻蚊子叮了，

that's carrying that virus.

並且這個蚊子攜帶那種病毒。

Well, you could develop flu-like symptoms.

嗯，這時，你會產生類似感冒的症狀。

They could be quite mild.

這些症狀可能會顯得很輕微。

You could develop nausea, headache,

你也許會產生噁心，頭痛的症狀，

your muscles could feel like they're contracting,

你會感覺你的肌肉在收縮，

and you could actually feel like your bones are breaking.

並且你可能會感覺你的骨頭在四分五裂。

And that's the nickname given to this disease.

這種感覺其實是這種病昵稱的來源---

It's called breakbone fever,

裂骨燒，

because that's how you can feel.

因為你的身體就會有這種感覺。

Now the odd thing is, is that once you've been bitten

奇怪的是，當你被

by this mosquito, and you've had this disease,

這種蚊子叮咬了以後，並且你已經感染這種疾病，

your body develops antibodies,

你的身體會產生抗體，

so if you're bitten again with that strain,

也就是說，如果你再次被 帶有同一種病毒的蚊子叮咬以後，

it doesn't affect you.

你不會被感染。

But it's not one virus, it's four,

但是這不僅僅只有一種病毒，而是四種。

and the same protection that gives you the antibodies

那種幫助你對其中某一種病毒產生抗體的保護措施，

and protects you from the same virus that you had before

那種保護你不再被之前感染你的病毒所感染的保護措施，

actually makes you much more susceptible to the other three.

實際上會讓你更容易被其他的三種病毒所感染。

So the next time you get dengue fever,

也就是說，下次如果再次感染登革熱，

if it's a different strain, you're more susceptible,

而且是另外一種病毒系，你就會更容易被它侵犯，

you're likely to get worse symptoms,

你很可能會有更加嚴重的症狀，

and you're more likely to get the more severe forms,

而且，你更可能會有那些比較嚴重的症狀，

hemorrhagic fever or shock syndrome.

像是出血熱，或者休克綜合症。

So you don't want dengue once,

所以，你最好是一次都不要感染登革熱，

and you certainly don't want it again.

並且絕對不要被感染第二次。

So why is it spreading so fast?

那爲什麽登革熱傳播的速度如此之快呢？

And the answer is this thing.

原因就是整個東西---

This is Aedes aegypti.

---埃及伊蚊。

Now this is a mosquito that came, like its name suggests,

這種蚊子來自於北非，正如牠的名字所顯示，

out of North Africa, and it's spread round the world.

並且牠們散布到世界各個角落。

Now, in fact, a single mosquito will only travel

實際上，某一隻蚊子，在牠整個生命過程中，

about 200 yards in its entire life. They don't travel very far.

只能飛行大約200碼（182.93米）的距離。 牠們並不能飛行太遠。

What they're very good at doing is hitchhiking,

但是牠們真正在行的是 “搭便車”，

particularly the eggs.

特別是牠們的卵。

They will lay their eggs in clear water, any pool, any puddle,

牠們會把卵產在清澈的水裡，任何的水池里，水坑里，

any birdbath, any flower pot,

任何小鳥戲水的池子里，花盆里，

anywhere there's clear water, they'll lay their eggs,

只要是任何有清水的地方，牠們就會產卵，

and if that clear water is near freight, it's near a port,

並且，如果那種清水是靠近碼頭，或是港口的地方，

if it's anywhere near transport,

只要是任何靠近交通運輸的地方，

those eggs will then get transported around the world.

這些卵就會被傳播到世界各地。

And that's what's happened. Mankind has transported

這就是事實的真相。是人類

these eggs all the way around the world,

把這些卵傳播到了世界的各個角落。

and these insects have infested over 100 countries,

這些害蟲已經大量傳播到了超過100個國家，

and there's now 2.5 billion people living in countries

這些國家一共有25億人口生活其中。

where this mosquito resides.

也就是說這25億人口與這些蚊子一起生活。

To give you just a couple of examples

給你舉一些簡單的例子

how fast this has happened,

來說明牠們傳播的速度有多麼驚人，

in the mid-'70s, Brazil declared, "We have no Aedes aegypti,"

在1970年代中期，巴西申報說，“我國沒有埃及伊蚊。”

and currently they spend about a billion dollars now

但是現在，他們已經每年花費近十億美金，

a year trying to get rid of it, trying to control it,

試圖去除或者控制這些蚊子，

just one species of mosquito.

並且只是眾多蚊子中的一種。

Two days ago, or yesterday, I can't remember which,

我記不清楚是在兩天前還是昨天，

I saw a Reuters report that said

我看到路透社的一篇報導說，

Madeira had had their first cases of dengue,

馬德拉群島發現了他們島上第一批登革熱的爆發，

about 52 cases, with about 400 probable cases.

有52人被確認感染了登革熱， 其他400個人“可能被感染”。

That's two days ago.

那是兩天前。

Interestingly, Madeira first got the insect in 2005,

有趣的是，馬德拉群島在2005年， 第一次發現有這種害蟲的存在，

and here we are, a few years later,

到現在，也就是幾年以後，

first cases of dengue.

第一批登革熱就在那裡爆發了。

So the one thing you'll find is that where the mosquito goes,

所以，可以確定的是，只要那種蚊子傳播到的地方，

dengue will follow.

就會有登革熱。

Once you've got the mosquito in your area,

只要那種蚊子到了某一個地區，

anyone coming into that area with dengue,

只要任何人到了那個被登革熱感染的地區，

mosquito will bite them, mosquito will bite somewhere else,

蚊子就會叮咬那些人，然後去其他地方繼續叮咬，

somewhere else, somewhere else,

去其他地方繼續咬，繼續咬，

and you'll get an epidemic.

然後這就形成了大範圍傳播的流行病。

So we must be good at killing mosquitos.

所以我們人類必須要真真正正地懂得如何殺死蚊子。

I mean, that can't be very difficult.

我的意思是，那其實並不是很難。

Well, there's two principle ways.

也就是說，有兩種主要的方法。

The first way is that you use larvicides.

第一種方法是你要使用殺幼蟲劑。

You use chemicals. You put them into water where they breed.

你使用化學製劑。將化學製劑放入牠們產卵繁殖的水中。

Now in an urban environment, that's extraordinarily difficult.

但是在現代都市生活的環境里，使用這種方法是極其困難的。

You've got to get your chemical into every puddle,

你必須要把這些化學藥物投放到每一個水池，

every birdbath, every tree trunk.

每一個水盆，每一個樹幹裡。

It's just not practical.

這其實是不現實的。

The second way you can do it

第二種你可以使用的方法

is actually trying to kill the insects as they fly around.

是當這些害蟲在飛行的時候把牠們殺死。

This is a picture of fogging.

這是一張“噴霧殺蟲”的照片。

Here what someone is doing

人們所做的，其實是把

is mixing up chemical in a smoke

化學殺蟲劑跟煙霧混合在一起，

and basically spreading that through the environment.

然後把那種混合物撒到環境中去。

You could do the same with a space spray.

其實跟你是用空氣噴霧器是一回事。

This is really unpleasant stuff,

這些噴霧是讓人感到不舒服的東西，

and if it was any good, we wouldn't have this massive increase

而且，如果它是有效的的話，世界上就不會有

in mosquitos and we wouldn't have this massive increase in dengue fever.

大量增多的蚊子，以及大量增多的登革熱的病例。

So it's not very effective, but it's probably

也就是說，這種噴霧的方法並不有效。但是，它也許是

the best thing we've got at the moment.

我們目前最好的方法了。

Having said that, actually, your best form of protection

不過，實際上，你和我最好的防蚊措施

and my best form of protection is a long-sleeve shirt

就是穿長袖衣服

and a little bit of DEET to go with it.

以及一點點防蚊水（diethyltoluamide、待乙妥）。

So let's start again. Let's design a product,

所以，讓我們重新開始。讓我們一起設計一種產品，

right from the word go, and decide what we want.

馬上就開始，一起決定我們到底想要什麽產品。

Well we clearly need something that is effective

嗯，我們當然是需要一種

at reducing the mosquito population.

能有效減少蚊子數量的東西。

There's no point in just killing the odd mosquito here and there.

只隨機地殺蚊子是沒有意義的。

We want something that gets that population right the way down

我們希望的是找到能夠大量減少蚊子族群的方法，

so it can't get the disease transmission.

這樣蚊子就不能傳播疾病了。

Clearly the product you've got has got to be safe to humans.

我們清楚的知道，這種產品必須對人類是無害的。

We are going to use it in and around humans.

因為我們要在人類生活的範圍里使用它。

It has to be safe.

它必須得非常安全。

We don't want to have a lasting impact on the environment.

我們也不希望這種東西對環境產生長久持續的影響。

We don't want to do anything that you can't undo.

我們不想要(對環境)有不可逆的影響。

Maybe a better product comes along in 20, 30 years.

也許會有一種更好的產品會在20或者30年後出現。

Fine. We don't want a lasting environmental impact.

沒關係。我們不想讓環境受到長久的影響。

We want something that's relatively cheap, or cost-effective,

我們想要的是相對便宜的，或有成本效益的，

because there's an awful lot of countries involved,

因為有太多，太多的國家被牽扯其中，

and some of them are emerging markets,

而且，其中一些國家是新興的市場，

some of them emerging countries, low-income.

在這些新興市場裡，有一些是低收入的國家。

And finally, you want something that's species-specific.

最後，我們想要的是針對某一種蚊子的產品。

You want to get rid of this mosquito that spreads dengue,

我們想除掉那種傳播登革熱的蚊子，

but you don't really want to get all the other insects.

但是你不想殺掉其他所有的昆蟲。

Some are quite beneficial. Some are important to your ecosystem.

有些昆蟲是有益的。有些在生態系中扮演很重要的角色。

This one's not. It's invaded you.

但這種蚊子不是有益的。牠們侵犯我們。

But you don't want to get all of the insects.

但是你不想幹掉所有的昆蟲。

You just want to get this one.

你只想幹掉這一種而已。

And most of the time, you'll find this insect

而且在大多數情況下，你會發現這種昆蟲

lives in and around your home,

就生活在你的家裡，

so this -- whatever we do has got to get to that insect.

所以，無論我們做什麼，必須能消滅這種昆蟲。

It's got to get into people's houses, into the bedrooms,

我們必須要在人們的房子里，臥室裡，

into the kitchens.

廚房裡使用。

Now there are two features of mosquito biology

蚊子有兩個生物特性

that really help us in this project,

著實可以幫助我們做好這個科學研究專案（殺蚊子的專案），

and that is, firstly, males don't bite.

第一個特性是公蚊子不咬人。

It's only the female mosquito that will actually bite you.

叮咬你的，全都是母蚊子。

The male can't bite you, won't bite you,

公蚊子不能夠咬你，也不會想要咬你。

doesn't have the mouth parts to bite you.

牠們沒有那種能夠叮咬你的口器。

It's just the female.

所以，咬你的只是母蚊子。

And the second is a phenomenon

第二個特性是一個現象，

that males are very, very good at finding females.

即，公蚊子非常擅長於找到母蚊子。

If there's a male mosquito that you release,

如果你釋放了一隻公蚊子，

and if there's a female around, that male will find the female.

而且碰巧有一隻母蚊子在附近， 那隻公蚊子一定會找到那隻母蚊子。

So basically, we've used those two factors.

基本上，我們已經利用了這兩種特性。

So here's a typical situation,

所以，通常狀況下，

male meets female, lots of offspring.

公蚊子遇到母蚊子，然後就繁殖大量的後代。

A single female will lay about

僅一隻母蚊子一次會產下

up to 100 eggs at a time,

多達100個卵。

up to about 500 in her lifetime.

在牠一生裡，會產下多達500個卵。

Now if that male is carrying a gene

如果那一隻公蚊子攜帶了

which causes the death of the offspring,

會導致後代死亡的基因，

then the offspring don't survive,

那麼這些後代就不會存活，

and instead of having 500 mosquitos running around,

也就是說，交配的結果是什麽都沒有，

you have none.

而不是500隻活蹦亂跳的蚊子。

And if you can put more, I'll call them sterile,

說得誇張一點，我稱他們為沒有生育力的蚊子，

that the offspring will actually die at different stages,

因為這些後代會在不同的生命階段里死亡，

but I'll call them sterile for now.

但是我們稱這些公蚊子為“不育蚊”。

If you put more sterile males out into the environment,

如果你將更多的“不育蚊”放到自然環境裡，

then the females are more likely to find a sterile male

那麼，母蚊子就更有可能會找到“不育蚊”，

than a fertile one, and you will bring that population down.

而不是有生育能力的公蚊子， 這樣的話，你就可以減少這種蚊子的數量。

So the males will go out, they'll look for females,

所以，當這些“不育”公蚊子出去尋找母蚊子的時候，

they'll mate. If they mate successfully, then no offspring.

牠們會交配。如果交配成功，（因為基因缺陷）就沒有後代存活。

If they don't find a female, then they'll die anyway.

如果牠們沒有找到母蚊子，那麼，牠們最終都會死。

They only live a few days.

牠們本身只能存活幾天。

And that's exactly where we are.

這就是我們現在正在做的。

So this is technology that was developed

所以，這就是

in Oxford University a few years ago.

幾年前在牛津大學研發出來的技術。

The company itself, Oxitec, we've been working

這個公司叫做“Oxitec”，我們已經

for the last 10 years, very much on a sort of similar

工作了10年，用的研發方法

development pathway that you'd get with a pharmaceutical company.

與製藥公司研發藥物的方法類似。

So about 10 years of internal evaluation, testing,

也就是說，己經花了約十年的時間，去做內部評估，測試，

to get this to a state where we think it's actually ready.

才能夠到達我們認為“一切準備就緒”的階段。

And then we've gone out into the big outdoors,

接下來，我們己經到野外去測試，

always with local community consent,

必須得到當地社區的同意，

always with the necessary permits.

並且先得到必要的許可。

So we've done field trials now in the Cayman Islands,

我們已經在開曼群島做了實地測驗，

a small one in Malaysia,

另外，在馬來西亞做了一個小的實地測驗，

and two more now in Brazil.

並在巴西做另外兩個實地測驗。

And what's the result?

那麼，結果如何？

Well, the result has been very good.

嗯，結果都非常的好。

In about four months of release,

在投放“不育蚊”的四個月以後，

we've brought that population of mosquitos

我們已經把蚊子的數量--

— in most cases we're dealing with villages here

--大多數情況下，我們的實驗地是那些

of about 2,000, 3,000 people, that sort of size,

只有2000、3000人的村子，

starting small —

一切都“從小”開始---

we've taken that mosquito population down

在四個月的時間裡，我們已經成功地

by about 85 percent in about four months.

將蚊子族群的數量減少了85%。

And in fact, the numbers after that get,

實際上，要想繼續再算剩下的蚊子的數量

those get very difficult to count, because there just aren't any left.

是非常，非常困難的，因為根本就沒有什麽蚊子剩下了。

So that's been what we've seen in Cayman,

那正是我們在開曼群島看到的結果，

it's been what we've seen in Brazil

也正是我們在巴西的

in those trials.

實地測試裡看到的結果。

And now what we're doing is we're going through a process

現在我們正在做的是

to scale up to a town of about 50,000,

這個實驗放到有50,000人口的城鎮裡，

so we can see this work at big scale.

這樣的話，我們就可以看到 這個實驗在大範圍的地區效果如何。

And we've got a production unit in Oxford,

另外，在牛津，我們已經有一個生產小組，

or just south of Oxford, where we actually produce these mosquitos.

確切地說，是在牛津的南部， 這個生產小組負責製造“不育蚊”。

We can produce them,

我們可以在比這塊紅地毯大一點的空間裡

in a space a bit more than this red carpet,

製造這些蚊子

I can produce about 20 million a week.

我每星期可以製造大約2000萬的“不育蚊”。

We can transport them around the world.

我們可以把牠們送到世界各地。

It's not very expensive, because it's a coffee cup --

花費一點也不大，因為這只需要一個咖啡杯---

something the size of a coffee cup

任何一個咖啡杯大小的容器

will hold about three million eggs.

就可以裝得下3百萬個卵。

So freight costs aren't our biggest problem. (Laughter)

也就是說，運費是不成問題的。

So we've got that. You could call it a mosquito factory.

這些就是我們現在所取得的結果。 你可以稱它為“蚊子工廠”。

And for Brazil, where we've been doing some trials,

在巴西，我們已經做了幾個測試，

the Brazilian government themselves have now built

並且，現在巴西政府已經建造了

their own mosquito factory, far bigger than ours,

他們自己的蚊子工廠， 遠遠比我們牛津的工廠大得多，

and we'll use that for scaling up in Brazil.

我們會用他們的工廠在巴西做大規模的實驗。

There you are. We've sent mosquito eggs.

正如你所看到的。我們送出了蚊子的卵。

We've separated the males from the females.

我們已經把公蚊子和母蚊子都分開了。

The males have been put in little pots

公蚊子被放在了小罐子裡，

and the truck is going down the road

然後，運輸這些罐子的卡車

and they are releasing males as they go.

沿路將這些公蚊子釋放出去。

It's actually a little bit more precise than that.

當然，實際操作要更加精密。

You want to release them so that

你釋放蚊子的範圍

you get good coverage of your area.

必須能夠足以覆蓋到整個地區。

So you take a Google Map, you divide it up,

你要做的就是利用Google地圖，將那些區域分割出來，

work out how far they can fly,

弄清楚牠們能飛多遠，

and make sure you're releasing such that you get

並且，確保蚊子被釋放的範圍

coverage of the area, and then you go back,

是全面覆蓋整個區域的，然後重覆釋放更多的"不育蚊"

and within a very short space of time,

這樣在很短的時間內，

you're bringing that population right the way down.

你就可以把那裡的蚊子數量大量減少。

We've also done this in agriculture.

我們也在農業地區做過這些實驗。

We've got several different species of agriculture coming along,

我們已經在不同類型的農業地區取得了進展，

and I'm hoping that soon

我希望，在不久的將來，

we'll be able to get some funding together so we can get back

我們可以得到更多的資助，

and start looking at malaria.

用於整治和研究怎麼樣對付虐疾。

So that's where we stand at the moment,

所以，以上這些，就是我們現在的科研進展，

and I've just got a few final thoughts,

我還有一些最後的想法，

which is that this is another way in which biology

也就是說，當下，這是生物學

is now coming in to supplement chemistry

以另外一種全新的方式補充化學。

in some of our societal advances in this area,

並且是在某些社會最領先的範圍裡。

and these biological approaches are coming in

並且，這些生物學的研究方法正以

in very different forms,

一些非常新穎的形式進入研究的領域，

and when you think about genetic engineering,

當人們想起基因工程的時候，

we've now got enzymes for industrial processing,

我們想在已經發明出了可供工業處理使用的酶，

enzymes, genetically engineered enzymes in food.

那些通過基因工程製造出來的酶，可以放在我們的食物裡。

We have G.M. crops, we have pharmaceuticals,

我們已經有了轉基因的農作物，有了藥物，

we have new vaccines,

我們還有新型的疫苗，

all using roughly the same technology, but with very different outcomes.

製造這些東西的技術都大同小異，但結果卻非常不同。

And I'm in favor, actually. Of course I am.

並且，實際上，我很認同，當然我很認同。

I'm in favor of particularly where the older technologies

我特別認同的是把基因工程用在老技術失去效果，

don't work well or have become unacceptable.

或已經不能被接受的的領域裡。

And although the techniques are similar,

儘管，技術都差不多，

the outcomes are very, very different,

但是產生的結果卻非常地不同。

and if you take our approach, for example,

舉個例，如果將我們的技術，

and you compare it to, say, G.M. crops,

與轉基因農作物比較，

both techniques are trying to produce a massive benefit.

你會發現，這兩種技術都在盡可能產生大範圍的效益。

Both have a side benefit,

而且兩者都有副效益，

which is that we reduce pesticide use tremendously.

也就是，我們極大地減少了殺蟲劑的使用。

But whereas a G.M. crop is trying to protect the plant,

但是，轉基因農作物是在保護植物，

for example, and give it an advantage,

例如，給植物一點點生存的優勢，

what we're actually doing is taking the mosquito

但我們所做的是消滅蚊子，

and giving it the biggest disadvantage it can possibly have,

並給牠盡可能大的生存劣勢，

rendering it unable to reproduce effectively.

致使牠們不能有效地繁殖。

So for the mosquito, it's a dead end.

所以，這對蚊子來說，是死路一條。

Thank you very much. (Applause)

非常感謝你們的傾聽！（掌聲）