Better protection for the diversity of the planet's creatures and plants could help shield humans from diseases like AIDS, Ebola or bird flu and save bi"ions of dollars in health care costs, researchers said.

　　研究人员表示，更好地保护地球上动植物的多样性有助于帮助人类远离艾滋病、埃博拉病毒以及禽流感等疾病，不仅如此，还可帮助人们节省每年数十亿美元的卫生保健费用。

　　They said human disruptions to biodiversity -from roads through the Amazon jungle to dorestation in remote parts of Africa -had made people more exposed to new diseases that originate in wildlife.

　　研究人员声称，人类的行为已经对生物的多样性造成了极大的破坏——从亚马逊丛林中修建的道路，到对非洲边远地区进行滥采滥伐——致使人类不得不面对更多种由野生动植物引起的疾病。

　　"Biodiversity not only stores the promise of new medical treatments and cures, it buffers humans from organisms and agents that cause disease," scientists from the Diversitas international group said in a statement. "Preventing emerging diseases through biodiversity conservation is far more cost fective than developing vaccines to combat them later".

　　国际生物多样性计划中心的科学家表示"生物的多样性不仅能够为人类最新的医学研究对策和治愈方案提供新线索，还能够使人类远离那些可导致疾病的生物体和其他物质。通过保护生物多样性来防止突发疾病要比疾病产生后研制疫苗更划算。"

　　Peter Daszak, a scientist who helped find links between Asian bats and the SARS virus, said the 2003 outbreak of the flu-like disease cost about $50 bi"ion, largely because it cut travel and trade from Asia, about 800 people died.

　　曾经对非典型性肺炎研究做出杰出贡献的美国科学家彼得·达斯扎克表示: 2003年爆发的这种类似流感的病毒疾病使人类遭受了大约500亿美元的损失，而且还夺去了约800人的生命。

　　And AIDS, widely believed to have originated in chimpanzees, killed an estimated 3.1 million people in 2004 and the United Nations estimates that $15 billion will be needed for prevention, treatment and care in 2006 alone.

　　对于艾滋病，人们广泛认为这是一种源于黑猩猩的疾病。仅2004年，就有近310万人因感染艾滋病而不幸死亡。据联合国统计，2006年一年，对艾滋病的预防、救治，及护理费用就耗资约150亿美元。

　　"Emerging diseases are causing a crisis of public health," Daszak, executive director of the consortium for conservation medicine at the Wildlife Trust, New York, told Reuters.

　　纽约医药保存兼野生动物信托委员会的达斯扎克表示"这种突发疾病对大众的健康造成了极大的威胁。"

　　Diversitas experts urged governments to work out policies to protect biodiversity, including tougher regulations on trade, agriculture and travel to reduce chances that diseases like avian flu can jump from wildlife to people.

　　相关专家敦促政府能够尽快制定方针政策来对生物多样性进行保护。其中包括:强化贸易、农业及旅游的相关规定，从而减少野生动物将疾病(如禽流感)传染给人类的可能。

　　"We' re not saying that we should lock up nature and throw away the key, " said Charles Perrings , a biodiversity expert at Arizona State University. But he said humans should be more carul about disrupting areas of rich biodiversity. He said diseases had spread from wildlife to humans throughout history but the risks were rising because of the impact of growing human populations on habitats.

　　美国亚利桑那州立大学的生物多样性专家查尔斯·佩里斯表示我们这样说并不是想把自然界完全‘封锁然后再把‘钥匙'扔掉。"他认为:人类在存在生物多样性的区域活动时，应该倍加谨慎。许多从野生动物身上传染给人类的疾病在历史上可谓是层出不穷，而近年来这种危险却进一步加剧——这是由于人口不断增长、动物的栖息地受到威胁造成的。

　　The experts said the preservation of a wider range of species could also ease the impact of disease. A factor helping the spread of Lyme disease in the eastern United States, for instance, was the absence of former predators like wolves or wild cats that once kept down number of white-footed mice -a reservoir of the infection.

　　专家表示，保护更为广泛的物种同样也能减轻疾病对人类的影响。据悉，在美国东部地区莱姆病之所以广泛传播，就是因为该地区的狼、野猫等食肉动物越来越少——这些动物可以控制自足鼠的数量，而白足鼠则是莱姆病原菌的携带者。

　　Lyme disease was also less of a problem for humans in U.S. states where the ticks that transmit the disease had more potential targets, like lizards or small mammals.

　　而在美国其他一些地区，莱姆病根本构不成威胁。因为在那些地区，传播这种疾病的动物除了以人为攻击目标之外，还有更多的可攻击目标，如蹦蹦或其他小型哺乳动物。

　　"The value of services provided by nature and its diversity is under-appreciated until they stop," said Anne Larigauderie, executive director of Paris-based Diversitas. a non-government organization.

　　巴黎一家非政府组织的生物多样性研究所的执行理事安妮表示"对于大自然的无私奉献和大自然的丰富多彩，我们并没有给予足够的重视，恐怕只有当大自然将这些恩惠统统收回，人们才能够醒悟。"

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