世界上最致命的动物是什么?
世界上最致命的动物是什么?
Like a lot of folks from my generation, I've been afraid of sharks since the movie "Jaws" first hit theaters in the late '70s. But while sharks sure look the part, the truth of the matter is that they don't even come close to being the world's deadliest animals. (In fact, there are many animals deadlier than sharks, so let's give them a break.)
和我们这一代的很多人一样，自从电影《大白鲨》在70年代末上映以来，我就一直害怕鲨鱼。虽然鲨鱼看起来确实很像，但事实是，它们根本就不是世界上最致命的动物。(事实上，有很多动物比鲨鱼更致命，所以我们让它们休息一下吧。)
So which animal takes that prize? When it comes to human deaths, no other animal comes close — not even humans themselves.
那么哪个动物获得了这个奖项呢?说到人类的死亡，没有其他动物能与之相比——甚至人类自己也不行。
It's the mosquito.
这是蚊子。
It may be small enough to sit on this leaf, but the mosquito is terrifyingly efficient at killing people. (Photo: Dmitrijs Bindemanis/Shutterstock)
How could a teeny little insect be so dangerous? After all, their bites may be a little itchy, but life-threatening?
一只小小的昆虫怎么会这么危险呢?毕竟，他们的叮咬可能会有点痒，但会危及生命?
It's not the bite, per se, it's the diseases transferred during the bite that make mosquitoes so dangerous to humans. Mosquitoes carry malaria — a disease that kills 400,000 people a year and sickens 200 million more — and that's not counting deaths from dengue fever, yellow fever, zika, West Nile and encephalitis, according to ISGlobal, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health. Adding up all the diseases, the final death count is closer to 725,000 a year.
蚊子对人类非常危险，并不是因为叮咬本身，而是叮咬过程中传播的疾病。根据巴塞罗那全球健康研究所ISGlobal的数据，蚊子携带疟疾——每年有40万人死于这种疾病，另有2亿多人患病——这还不包括登革热、黄热病、寨卡病毒、西尼罗河病毒和脑炎造成的死亡。把所有的疾病加起来，最终的死亡人数接近每年725,000人。
In fact, it was the mosquito's killing prowess that prompted Timothy C. Winegard to write "The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator." The professor of history and political science at Colorado Mesa University declares that the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity's fate. He estimates that over time, mosquitoes have killed 52 billion people.
事实上，正是蚊子的杀戮能力促使蒂莫西c维恩加德写下了《蚊子:我们人类历史最致命的捕食者》。科罗拉多梅萨大学的历史和政治学教授宣称蚊子是决定人类命运的唯一最强大的力量。他估计，随着时间的推移，蚊子已经杀死了520亿人。
They are also everywhere. Mosquitoes are present in every corner of the world except for Antarctica and during peak breeding season, they outnumber every other animal on Earth except termites and ants. So the danger to humans is widespread.
它们也无处不在。除了南极洲，世界各地都有蚊子。在繁殖高峰期，蚊子的数量超过了地球上除白蚁和蚂蚁以外的所有动物。所以对人类的危险是普遍的。
The good news is that unlike sharks, mosquitoes are easier to repel, and most mosquito-borne diseases can be avoided with vaccinations. Of course the trick is getting these vaccinations to the people who need them the most.
好消息是，与鲨鱼不同，蚊子更容易被击退，而且大多数由蚊子传播的疾病都可以通过接种疫苗来避免。当然，关键是把这些疫苗接种给最需要的人。
In his personal blog, Bill Gates shared the infographic below devoted to "these flying masters of mayhem," and he also writes about some of the work being done around the world to eradicate them.
在他的个人博客中，比尔·盖茨分享了下面这张关于“这些飞行高手制造混乱”的信息图表，他还写了一些世界各地正在进行的消灭它们的工作。
Infographic courtesy of Gates Notes
盖茨笔记提供的信息图表
Eradicating them would be an amazing feat. Then the only thing left for humans to worry about would be humans, themselves. And there's no vaccine for that.
根除它们将是一个惊人的壮举。那么人类唯一需要担心的就是人类自己。目前还没有这种疫苗。
