拼了!巴西将动用"核辐射"绝育技术灭蚊抗寨卡

Brazil is planning to fight the Zika virus by zapping millions of male mosquitoes with gamma rays to sterilise them and stop the spread of the virus linked to thousands of birth defects.

巴西计划用伽马射线辐照数百万雄性蚊子，使其失去繁殖能力，以阻止导致成千上万例出生缺陷病例出现的寨卡病毒的传播。

Called an irradiator, the device has been used to control fruit flies on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday it will pay to ship the device to Juazeiro, in the northeastern state of Bahia, as soon as the Brazilian government issues an import permit.

所谓的照射装置已用于控制葡萄牙马德拉岛的果蝇数量。国际原子能机构周一表示，只要巴西政府颁发进口许可证，那么运输费用由该机构负责，这些设备将会运往巴西东北部巴伊亚州的茹阿泽鲁。

"It's a birth control method, the equivalent of family planning for humans," said Kostas Bourtzis, a molecular biologist with the IAEA's insect pest control laboratory.

国际原子能机构虫害控制实验室的一名名叫Kostas Bourtzis的分子生物学家表示：“这是一种控制生育的方法。相当于人类的计划生育。”

The sterile males will be released into target areas to mate with wild females who will lay eggs that produce no offspring, he said.

他说，绝育后的雄性蚊子将被放入目标区域与野生雌蚊交配，由此产下的蚊卵将孵化不出蚊子。

A Brazilian non-profit called Moscamed will breed up to 12 million male mosquitoes a week and then sterilize them with the cobalt-60 irradiator, produced by Canadian company MDS Nordion, Bourtzis said.

Bourtzis表示，一家名为Moscamed的巴西非营利性组织将会在一周内繁殖1200万只雄蚊子，然后采用由加拿大MDS Nordion公司生产的钴-60辐照装置进行实验。

With no cure or vaccine available for Zika, the only way to contain the virus is to reduce the mosquito population.

由于目前尚无针对寨卡病毒的有效治疗手段或疫苗，遏制该病毒的唯一方式就是减少蚊虫数量。