A man-made disease

人為的疾病

In the early days of the settlement of Australia, enterprising settlers unwisely introduced the European rabbit. This rabbit had no natural enemies in the Antipodes, so that it multiplied with that promiscuous abandon characteristic of rabbits. It overran a whole continent. It caused devastation by burrowing and by devouring the herbage which might have maintained millions of sheep and cattle. Scientists discovered that this particular variety of rabbit (and apparently no other animal) was susceptible to a fatal virus disease, myxomatosis. By infecting animals and letting them loose in the burrows, local epidemics of this disease could be created. Later it was found that there was a type of mosquito which acted as the carrier of this disease and passed it on to the rabbits. So while the rest of the world was trying to get rid of mosquitoes, Australia was encouraging this one. It effectively spread the disease all over the continent and drastically reduced the rabbit population. It later became apparent that rabbits were developing a degree of resistance to this disease, so that the rabbit population was unlikely to be completely exterminated. There were hopes, however, that the problem of the rabbit would become manageable.

在澳大利亞移民初期，一些有創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的移民不明智地把歐洲兔子引進了澳大利亞。這種兔子在澳大利亞及新西蘭沒有天敵，因此便以兔子所特有的雜亂交配迅猛繁殖起來。整個澳洲兔子成災。它們在地下打洞，吃掉本可以飼養(yǎng)數(shù)百萬頭牛羊的牧草，給澳洲大陸造成了毀滅性的破壞�？茖W家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種特殊品種的兔子(顯然不包括別的動物)易患一種叫“多發(fā)性粘液瘤”的致命毒性疾病。通過讓染上此病的動物在洞內亂跑，就可以使這種疾病在一個地區(qū)蔓延起來。后來又發(fā)現(xiàn)，有一種蚊子是傳播這種疾病的媒介，能把此病傳染給兔子。因此，世界上其他地方在設法消滅蚊子的時候，澳大利亞卻在促使這種蚊子大量繁殖。蚊子把這種疾病擴散到整個澳洲大陸，效果甚佳，結果兔子的數(shù)目在為減少。后來，明顯看出，兔子對這種疾病已產生了一定程度的免疫力，所以兔子不可能被完全消滅。但是，已有希望解決兔子所帶來的問題。

Ironically, Europe, which had bequeathed the rabbit as a pest to Australia, acquired this man-made disease as a pestilence. A French physician decided to get rid of the wild rabbits on his own estate and introduced myxomatosis. It did not, however, remain within the confines of his estate. It spread through France, Where wild rabbits are not generally regarded as a pest but as sport and a useful food supply, and it spread to Britain where wild rabbits are regarded as a pest but where domesticated rabbits, equally susceptible to the disease, are the basis of a profitable fur industry. The question became one of whether Man could control the disease he had invented.

具有諷刺意味的是，歐洲把這種兔子作為有害動物傳給澳洲，而歐洲自己卻染上了這種人為的瘟疫般的疾病。一位法國內科醫(yī)生決定除掉自己莊園內的野兔子，于是引進了這種多發(fā)性粘液瘤疾病。然而，這種疾病并未被局限在他的莊園內，結果在整個法國蔓延開來。野兔在法國一般不被當作有害動物，而被視為打獵取樂的玩物和有用的食物來源。這種疾病又蔓延到了英國。在英國，野兔被當作有害的動物，可是家兔是賺錢的毛皮工業(yè)的基礎，然而家兔同樣易感染這種疾病�，F(xiàn)在的問題是，人類能否控制住這種人為的疾病。