医学双语新闻有一种寄生虫会增加女性怀孕几率

标题：Parasitic worm 'increases women's fertility'

Infection with a species of parasitic worm increases the fertility of women, say scientists.

科学家称，感染一种寄生虫会增加女性的怀孕几率。

A study of 986 indigenous women in Bolivia (玻利维亚，南美洲西部国家) indicated a lifetime of Ascaris lumbricoides (蚘虫), a type of roundworm, infection led to an extra two children.

一项对玻利维亚986名土著女性的研究表明，感染蚘虫（一种蛔虫），会导致女性一生多孕育两个孩子。

Researchers, writing in the journal Science, suggest the worm is altering the immune system to make it easier to become pregnant.

研究人员在《科学》杂志撰文表明，这种寄生虫正在改变妇女体内的免疫系统，以使其更容易怀孕。

Experts said the findings could lead to "novel fertility enhancing drugs".

专家说，这些研究结果有利于研发“可提高生育率的新型药物”。

Nine children is the average family size for Tsimane (提斯曼，玻利维亚土著族群) women in Bolivia. And about 70% of the population has a parasitic worm infection.

对玻利维亚提斯曼族的女性来说，9个孩子是普通的家庭规模。其中约70%的人都感染了寄生虫。

Up to a third of the world's population also lives with such infections.

全世界有1/3的人也感染了这种寄生虫。

But while Ascaris lumbricoides increased fertility in the nine-year study, hookworms (钩虫) had the opposite effect, leading to three fewer children across a lifetime.

但是，9年的研究成果表明，虽然蛲虫增加了怀孕几率，但是钩虫却产生了相反的效果，钩虫会致使女性一生少孕育3个孩子。

Prof Aaron Blackwell, one of the researchers , from the University of California Santa Barara, told the BBC News website: "The effects are unexpectedly large."

来自美国加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校的一名研究人员，圣亚伦·布莱克威尔教授，在接受BBC新闻网站采访时说：“这些影响大得出乎意料。”

He said women's immune systems naturally changed during pregnancy so they did not reject the foetus (胎儿).

他说，女性在怀孕期间，其免疫系统会自然而然地发生变化，这样才不会对胎儿发育产生排斥。

Prof Blackwell said: "We think the effects we see are probably due to these infections altering women's immune systems, such that they become more or less friendly towards a pregnancy."

布莱克威尔教授说：“我们认为我们所看到的影响大概是由于这些感染会改变妇女的免疫系统，这样，这些免疫系统或多或少会对怀孕友好一些。”

He said using worms as a fertility treatment was an "intriguing possibility" but warned there was far more work to be done "before we would recommend anyone try this".

他说寄生虫作为不孕治疗是一项“有趣的可能”，但同时警告说“在建议人们尝试这一方法之前”，仍有很多工作要做。

Prof Rick Maizels, a specialist in parasitic worms and the immune system, told the BBC News website: "It's horrifying that the hookworm effects are so profound, half of women by 26 or 28 have yet to (尚未) fall pregnant and that's a huge effect on life."

里克· 梅泽尔斯教授是寄生虫与免疫系统方面的专家，他在接受BBC新闻网站采访时说：“钩虫的影响如此深远，让人惊骇，在26或28岁的女性中，有半数尚未怀孕，这对生命产生了巨大的影响。”

Bacterial and viral infections try to outpace the immune system by having explosive population growth.

细菌和病毒感染呈爆炸式增长，试图在生长速度上超越免疫系统。

But Prof Maizels said parasites did the opposite, "growing slowly and trying to suppress the immune system", which is why they make vaccines less effective and lower levels of allergies.

但是梅泽尔斯教授说寄生虫却恰恰相反，“它们成长缓慢并试图抑制免疫系统”，这就是为什么这些寄生虫会致使疫苗不太有效且降低过敏水平。

He suggested hookworm may also be causing anaemia and leading to infertility that way.

他提出钩虫或许也会导致贫血和不孕。

'Very surprising'

惊人发现

Prof Allan Pacey, a fertility scientist at the University of Sheffield, told the BBC: "It is very surprising and intriguing to find that infection with this particular species of roundworm actually enhances fertility."

艾伦 · 佩西教授是英国谢菲尔德大学生育科专家，他告诉BBC：“令人惊讶和有趣的是发现感染这一特定种类的蛔虫实际上可以提高生育率。”

He said drugs had been tried to alter a woman's immune system to boost IVF (体外受精 In Vitro Fertilization), but without success.

他说已经尝试用药物来改变女性的免疫系统，目的是促进体外受精，但没有成功。

He added: "Whilst I wouldn't want to suggest that women try and become infected with roundworms as a way of increasing their fertility, further studies of the immunology of women who do have the parasite could ultimately lead to new and novel fertility enhancing drugs."

他补充道：“但我不建议女性为了增加怀孕几率而尝试蛔虫感染的方法，关于感染寄生虫的女性免疫学的深入研究，最终将会研制出可提高生育率的新型药物。”

单词及短语总结：

1. have yet to 还未；尚未

2. infect with：感染（注意介词用法）

3. fertility：肥沃；生育，生育力，生育率，出生率；丰产

跟生育相关的词汇：fertility，birth，reproductive (生殖的，生育的), bearing, childbirth, childbearing, maternity (产科的，产妇的)

出生率：birth rate；fertility

4. 超过

outpace; exceed; outnumber; surpass; override; overtake; overrun

5. 促进,提高

enhance; boost; raise; improve; increase; promote; advance; facilitate; accelerate

注释：

1. Science:《科学》是美国科学促进会（英语：American Association for the Advancement of Science，AAAS）出版的一份学术期刊，为全世界最权威的学术期刊之一。《科学》是发表最好的原始研究论文、以及综述和分析当前研究和科学政策的同行评议的期刊之一。该杂志于1880年由爱迪生投资1万美元创办，于1894年成为美国最大的科学团体“美国科学促进会”的官方刊物。全年共51期，为周刊，全球发行量超过150万份。2015年期刊影响因子为34.661，官网：http://www.sciencemag.org/

2. IVF: (technical 术语) the abbreviation for 'in vitro fertilization' (a process which fertilizes an egg from a woman outside her body. The egg is then put inside her uterus to develop.) 体外受精 (全写为 in vitro fertilization，使卵子在母体外受精后再放回子宫内发育)

翻译：Kelly

审校：审核小组