Irrigation Brings Malaria Along with Water

灌溉之水带来疟疾

From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

Irrigation systems can make a big difference in agricultural production. Irrigation can also improve the lives of farm families. However, the addition of water to the land or soil may cause problems in some areas. A new study describes how irrigation water can lead to an increase in malaria cases that could last for ten years or more.

灌溉系统在农业生产中能产生巨大差异。灌溉也能改善农民家庭的生活。然而，流向土壤的水中的附属物可能会在某些地区造成问题。一项新研究介绍了灌溉用水如何造成可持续十年或更长时间的疟疾病例的增加。

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes, the insects like to reproduce in standing water. So when a dry area is irrigated, the disease can appear and spread.

疟疾由蚊虫传播。蚊虫喜欢在静水中繁殖。因此当干燥地区被灌溉这种疾病就会开始出现和蔓延。

Mercedes Pascual is a scientist at the University of Michigan. She and her team studied areas in northern India where irrigation systems were built over a number of years. They compared how malaria progressed with the spread of irrigation.

默西迪丝·帕斯奎尔（Mercedes Pascual）是美国密歇根大学的一名科学家。她和她的团队研究了灌溉系统已经建成多年的印度北部地区。他们比较了疟疾如何同灌溉的推广一同发展。

"What happens is that when you irrigate, there is more, in a sense, more breeding habitats for the mosquito."

她说，“在某种意义上说，灌溉会产生更多的蚊虫繁殖栖息地。”

She and the other scientist found that after farmers began irrigating their crops, the risk of malaria rose sharply. At first, her team thought maybe the number of cases rose because there was little effort to control the mosquitoes that spread the disease. But they were wrong.

她和其他科学家发现，农民开始灌溉庄稼后，疟疾的风险也大幅提升。起初，她的团队认为，也许疟疾病例数量的增加是因为控制能够传播疾病的蚊虫的措施不够。但他们错了。

"In fact, we saw the opposite. This transition stage was characterized not just by heightened malaria risk, but also by more intervention to control the mosquito vector."

她说，“实际上我们看到的恰恰相反。这个过渡阶段的特点不仅是疟疾风险加剧，还包括有更多干预措施以控制蚊虫媒介。”

Even after the mosquito control efforts were in place, the researchers found high rates of malaria continued for ten years or longer.

即使蚊虫控制措施到位，研究人员照样发现高发病率的疟疾持续十年或更长时间。

Mercedes Pascual suggests that the irrigation project supervisors need to work more on reducing places where mosquitoes might reproduce. She also says health officials may need to try other methods of malaria prevention that would work for long periods of time.

帕斯奎尔建议灌溉项目主管人员需要做更多工作减少蚊虫可能繁殖的区域。她还表示，卫生官员可能需要尝试其它一些长期有效的预防疟疾的方法。

"And what we are saying is that those measures have to be sustained, and sustained and also planned for, for the long term."

她说，“我们想说的是，这些措施必须是可持续的，同时是长期规划的。”

In the words of the researchers, irrigation offers considerable rewards in areas with low rainfall. But as Mrs Pscual and her team discovered irrigation also can bring years of high rates of malaria. The only way to avoid the problem is through better planning and control measures.

研究人员表示，灌溉在降雨量少的地区提供了可观的回报。但帕斯奎尔女士和她的团队发现灌溉也会带来多年的疟疾高发率。避免这一问题的唯一途径是通过更好的规划和控制措施。

A report on the study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

该研究报告发表在美国国家科学院院报上。