August 17, 2025
以下英語內容節錄自 Science Quickly 逐字稿，Lumi Kuo翻譯。
本篇文章類別：#公共健康 #傳染病 #病毒
如有錯誤，請不吝指教！
China is having a fast-rising chikungunya outbreak in a place that has never had one before.
基孔肯雅熱正在中國先前從未發生過的地區迅速蔓延
By Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi & Alex Sugiura
Rachel Feltman: Happy Monday, listeners! For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. Let’s kick off the week with a quick roundup of some of the latest science news.
聽眾朋友們，週一快樂！我是 Rachel Feltman，為您帶來《科學美國人》的科學快訊（Scientific American’s Science Quickly）。讓我們快速總結幾個最新科學新聞來開啟新的一周。
First, a public health update from one of our colleagues at Scientific American, senior health editor Josh Fischman. He’s here to update us on an ongoing outbreak of the chikungunya virus in China.
首先，來自《科學美國人》健康領域資深編輯 Josh Fischman 更新的公共健康資訊。他在這邊提供我們有關現現在中國基孔肯雅病毒爆發的最新資訊。
Josh Fischman: So what has happened here is that, in June, China started reporting a spike in cases of chikungunya, and China is having a fast rising outbreak in a place that has never had one before. These are centered on the southern province of Guangdong and its city of Foshan—that’s near Hong Kong. And by the beginning of August, there were up to 7,000 cases.
所以這裡發生的事情是，六月，中國開始報導基孔肯雅病病例激增，而且病毒在未發生過疫情的地區迅速蔓延。這些疫情集中在南部省份廣東省及其鄰近香港的佛山市。截至8月初，病例已達7,000例。
In 2025 about 240,000 cases and 90 deaths have been reported in 16 different countries and territories, and that’s just through July.
2025 年，16 個國家和地區報告了約 240,000 例病例和 90 例死亡，而這僅僅是截至 7 月的數據。
The chikungunya virus was first identified in Africa in 1952. The name comes from a Makonde word—uh, that’s a language spoken in Tanzania—that means to bend up, and it refers to the most prominent symptoms, which are really, really painful joints that distort your posture and contort you into uncomfortable positions.
1952年基孔肯雅熱病毒在非洲首次被發現。命名來自馬孔德詞彙—呃，那是一種在坦尚尼亞說的語言—意思是「彎曲」，指涉最顯著的症狀，非常、非常疼痛的關節使你姿態扭曲並彎曲成不舒服的姿勢。
In addition, it causes a fever and rashes, and these things are usually short-lived. They take a week or two to get over. Sometimes, though, they can continue for years. And sometimes Chikungunya can cause heart damage.
再加上，病毒還會引起發燒和疹子，這些症狀通常是短暫的，需要一、兩周才能痊癒。有時候，可能會持續很多年，而基孔肯雅熱有時也會造成心臟損壞。
The virus is carried by two mosquito species, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. And people can get sick within three to seven days of a bite.
兩種蚊子族群會攜帶這種病毒－埃及斑蚊（Aedes aegypti）和白線斑蚊（Aedes albopictus）。人們可能會在被叮咬後的3-7天內發病。
And what worries me a little bit is that chikungunya moves really easily in this age of fast global travel. There are already outbreaks in France, and in Italy, and cases reported in the U.S.
讓我感到有點憂心的是，在這個全球旅行如此迅速的年代，基孔肯雅熱病毒的傳播非常容易。法國和義大利早已出現病情，美國也有病例回報。
Experts say that people in the United States should be a little concerned. There are, however, limiting factors that should minimize worry: spraying insecticides and illuminating mosquito areas. And in a temperate area, like most of the United States, the first killing frost will get rid of the insects and that stops viral transmission.
專家表示，美國人民應要感到擔心。不過，有一些限制因素可以減少人們的擔憂：噴灑殺蟲劑和照亮蚊蟲活動區域。在溫帶地區，例如美國大部分地區，第一次霜凍就會消滅昆蟲，阻止病毒傳播。
However, if you do get bitten and get sick, there are no good antiviral therapies. There’s no specific treatment for chikungunya. And this is important if you’re traveling to affected areas where there are big outbreaks. There are two effective and Food and Drug Administration–approved vaccines that get the body to produce antibodies, and these both lower the risk of infection. And pretty fortunately, insect repellents and protective clothing work pretty well.
然而，如果你真的被蚊子叮咬而生病，目前尚無良好的抗病毒療法，沒有特別為治療基孔肯雅熱的療程。如果你將到有嚴重疫情爆發的感染區旅行，這對你來說非常重要。目前有兩種有效的、經美國食品藥物管理局 (Food and Drug Administration；FDA) 批准的疫苗，可以促使人體產生抗體，從而降低感染風險。值得慶幸的是，驅蟲劑和防護衣也能發揮很好的作用。
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