When it comes to killing humans, no other animal – not sharks, snakes, or crocodiles – is as deadly as the mosquito.在对人类致命的程度上，即使算上鲨鱼、蛇或者鳄鱼，也没有任何一种动物能比得过蚊子。
But in the fight against dengue fever, one kind of mosquito has been transformed into a surprisingly powerful ally to save and improve lives.但在与登革热的斗争中，一类蚊子已经转变为令人惊叹的强大盟友，帮助人类挽救生命、改善居住条件。
Dengue fever is a virus spread through bites by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. Nicknamed “breakbone fever” because of the severe pain it causes, dengue infects about 400 million people every year and kills more than 20,000. Warming temperatures due to climate change have expanded the geographic range of the mosquitoes, driving up the number of dengue cases in recent years.登革热是一种通过埃及伊蚊叮咬传播的病毒疾病，因该病会引发剧烈的疼痛，所以又被称为 "断骨热"。登革热每年造成约4亿人感染，并导致超过2万人死亡。气候变化造成的气温升高扩大了蚊子活动的地理范围，导致近年来登革热病例的增加。
Researchers with the World Mosquito Program, however, have been working on a breakthrough that just might defeat dengue for good.然而，“世界蚊子计划”的研究人员一直在致力于一项突破性的解决方案以彻底消灭登革热。
This breakthrough relies on a tiny bacterium called Wolbachia and the Aedes aegypti mosquito.这一突破依赖于一种名为沃尔巴克氏菌的细菌和埃及伊蚊。
Wolbachia is a common and harmless bacterium found in 60 percent of all insects, including fruit flies, bees, moths, and butterflies. But it’s not found in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. More than a decade ago, researchers made a surprising discovery about Wolbachia. If Wolbachia is given to Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, it blocks them from transmitting the dengue virus. Researchers learned that Wolbachia spreads rapidly among mosquitoes when they mate, blocking the spread of dengue from one generation of mosquitoes to the next.沃尔巴克氏菌是一种常见且无害的细菌，存在于60%的昆虫中，包括果蝇、蜜蜂、蛾和蝴蝶。但在埃及伊蚊中并未发现该细菌。十多年前，研究人员发现了沃尔巴克氏菌令人意外的功效。如果使埃及伊蚊感染沃尔巴克氏菌，就能阻断它们传播登革病毒。研究人员发现，沃尔巴克氏菌可以在蚊子交配时快速传播，从而阻止登革病毒由亲代蚊子传播到子代。
All this initial research was done in a lab setting. The next step was to test whether this approach would work in the real world. If Wolbachia mosquitoes were released into a community, would it lead to a reduction in dengue cases?所有这些初步研究都是在实验室环境中完成的。下一步要测试该方法在自然环境中是否可以发挥作用。如果将携带沃尔巴克氏菌的蚊子释放到自然群落中，这是否会使得登革热病例减少？
That’s the experiment the World Mosquito Program, a non-profit working to stop the spread of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases, has been conducting in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. (Our foundation has been a proud funder of this research. In 2014, I visited Yogyakarta to see this work just as it was getting started. I even helped feed some of the Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes!)这就是“世界蚊子计划”在印度尼西亚的日惹市进行的一项实验，该计划致力于以非营利的方式防控登革热和其他蚊媒传染病的传播。(我们的基金会十分自豪地成为了这项研究的资助者。2014年，在项目的起步阶段，我到日惹考察了这项工作。我甚至帮助喂养了一些携带沃尔巴克氏菌的蚊子！)
As part of a randomized controlled trial, researchers released Wolbachia mosquitoes in parts of Yogyakarta, which has some of the highest rates of dengue fever in the country.作为随机对照试验的一部分，研究人员在日惹的部分地区释放了沃尔巴克氏菌蚊子，日惹是印尼登革热发病率最高的城市之一。
Setting mosquitoes free in people’s neighborhoods is, of course, an unconventional solution to fight dengue. To earn public trust, researchers collaborated closely with the local community. They met with thousands of people in the city and addressed their questions and concerns about the program.当然，为抗击登革热而在居民区释放蚊子是一种非常规的解决方案。为了获得公众的信任，研究人员与当地社区紧密合作。他们拜访了大量的居民，并解答了公众对该计划的疑问与担忧。
This public outreach effort took years. But it was worth it.In June, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of the trial, which show that the Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes reduced the number of dengue cases by 77 percent and dengue hospitalizations by 86 percent.今年六月， 试验结果在《新英格兰医学杂志》上发表，携带沃尔巴克氏菌的蚊子使登革热病例数量减少了77%，使因登革热住院人数减少了86%。
Now, the World Mosquito Program is working to expand this effort in other in other parts of the world where dengue is a threat, including cities in Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Australia, and Fiji.现在，“世界蚊子计划”正在努力将这项工作推广到世界上其他遭受登革热威胁的地区，包括斯里兰卡、越南、巴西、哥伦比亚、墨西哥、澳大利亚和斐济等国的多个城市。
This effort can be effective in preventing not only dengue, but also Zika, yellow fever, and other diseases transmitted by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.这项工作不仅可以有效预防登革热，还可以预防寨卡、黄热病以及其他由埃及伊蚊传播的疾病。
It’s hard to overstate the impact the World Mosquito Program may have on communities at risk of these diseases. Every dollar spent on this effort is expected to deliver $4 in economic benefits by saving billions of dollars in health care costs and preventing billions of hours of lost productivity due to illness.“世界蚊子计划”对于面临相关疾病风险的社区所能产生的影响无以言表。在这项工作上每投入1美元都可以带来4美元的经济效益，因为它可以节省数十亿美元的医疗费用，并防止因疾病造成的数十亿小时的生产力损失。
I look forward to sharing more news about this incredible project in the years ahead.