讓蚊子飛！首批轉基因蚊子將“襲擊”非洲村莊

非洲一個村莊嫌蚊子不夠多，近日居然放飛了一萬隻蚊子。其實，這一萬隻蚊子可不是普通蚊子，而是首批轉基因不育雄蚊，目標是對抗瘧疾。此次放蚊還只是實驗，真正厲害的“特種蚊”武器還在後頭呢。

A new front has been opened up in the battle against malaria with the release of the first ever genetically modified mosquitoes in Africa.

有史以來第一批轉基因蚊子將在非洲釋放，開闢了抗擊瘧疾的新戰線。

Some 10,000 sterile male mosquitoes will be released in Burkina Faso, a country at the front line of the war against the disease. Last year there were 9.8m cases of malaria here, resulting in almost 4,000 deaths.

約一萬隻不育雄蚊將在抗擊瘧疾的第一線——布基納法索釋放。去年這個國家發生了980萬例瘧疾，造成近4000人喪生。

Malaria is the biggest killer of children under five in Africa and the most up-to-date figures show that there were 216 million malaria cases worldwide, and an estimated 445,000 malaria deaths.

瘧疾是非洲5歲以下兒童的最大殺手，最新數據顯示，全世界發生的瘧疾病例有2.16億，預計導致的死亡人數大44.5萬。

This is the first step in a program to dramatically reduce the mosquito population in the country, and hopefully beyond. The initial release of the mosquitoes will enable researchers to gather more data about the longevity and dispersal of the insects, as well as how they interact with the natural insect population.

這是該國計劃大幅減少蚊子數量並藉此抗擊瘧疾項目的第一步。第一批釋放的蚊子將能幫助研究人員收集到有關蚊子壽命和分佈的更多數據，以及它們同天然蚊子相互影響的情況。

Researchers also hope to gain operational experience and improve understanding of their work among regulators and locals.

研究人員還希望從中獲得操作經驗，增進監管部門和當地人對他們工作的理解。

"It’s a very important step for building knowledge and experience," said Delphine Thizy, director of stakeholder engagement for Target Malaria, the not-for-profit research consortium behind the project.

開展這一項目的非盈利研究聯合會“瞄準瘧疾”的董事長戴爾芬·蒂齊說：“這是構建知識和經驗非常重要的一步。”

"Although this tool will not have an impact on malaria, it’s an important part of the fight and a conservative way to learn more about genetically modified mosquitoes.”

“儘管這個轉基因工具對瘧疾不會有什麼影響，但卻是抗瘧疾鬥爭的重要一部分，也是獲知關於轉基因蚊子更多信息的一個保守方式。”

The insects will be released in Bana, a village in the western part of the country close to the scientists’ research laboratory. Once they have been set free researchers will closely monitor the mosquitoes for 10 days, and on a monthly basis for up to a year, and hope to demonstrate to regulators that they behave as expected.

這些蚊子將在該國西部一個名叫巴納的村莊釋放，放蚊地點臨近科學家的研究實驗室。蚊子被釋放後，科學家將對其密切監控10天，然後在接下來的一年裏每月監控一次，希望能向監管部門呈現預期的結果。

The exact timing of the release depends on how quickly scientists can bring enough modified mosquitoes to adulthood, as well as local weather conditions.

釋放蚊子的準確時間取決於科學家將足夠的轉基因蚊子培育成年的速度，以及當地的天氣條件。

The experiment is the first step in a three phased program to develop “gene drive” mosquitoes - a project that has received $70 million of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

這個培育“基因驅動”蚊子的項目分爲三個階段，這個實驗是第一步。該項目從比爾和梅琳達·蓋茨基金會獲得了7000萬美元（4.8億元人民幣）的資助。

The eventual hope is that male mosquitoes, modified so that 90 percent of their offspring are also male, will be released in the region. This would dramatically reduce the overall population as well as reducing malaria incidence, as it is the female mosquitoes which transmit the disease.

該項目的最終目標是在該地區釋放這種新型轉基因雄蚊，它們繁衍的後代90%爲雄性。這將能大幅減少蚊子數量，並降低瘧疾發病率，因爲傳播瘧疾的是雌蚊子。

"The beauty of this approach for malaria control is that it’s very cost efficient, as you don’t need to constantly release more mosquitoes,” said Ms Thizy. “But that is a long term aim.”

蒂齊女士說：“這種控制瘧疾方法的精妙之處在於非常節省成本，因爲你不需要持續地放更多蚊子。不過這是一個長期目標。”

While Target Malaria have faced some skepticism about the approach within Burkina Faso, this has mainly been from farmers who are concerned about GM crops.

“瞄準瘧疾”機構的放蚊計劃在布基納法索國內遭到了一些質疑，這些質疑聲主要來自擔心轉基因作物的農民。

"We’ve had amazing support from the local community, and ahead of our regulatory application they gave us their approval in a local consultation”, said Ms Thizy.

蒂齊女士說：“我們從當地社區得到了大力支持，在向監管部門提交申請之前，當地民衆就經過協商同意了。”

As for safety, the mosquitoes released at this stage have been confirmed to be no more dangerous than the natural population, and cannot pass modified genes on to humans.

至於安全方面，在本階段釋放的蚊子經證實不會比天然蚊子更危險，也不會把修改後的基因傳給人類。

"Mosquitoes are one of the most dangerous species on earth, causing the highest number of deaths,” said Ms Thizy. “So of course this has risks. But genetically modified mosquitoes are no more risky than natural counterparts, and have no added toxicity.”

蒂齊女士說：“蚊子是地球上最危險的物種之一，導致的死亡人數最多。所以釋放蚊子當然有風險。但是轉基因蚊子並不比天然蚊子更危險，也不會攜帶更多毒素。”