意大利科學(xué)家的最新研究顯示，新冠病毒能夠附著在大氣污染物顆粒上，這或許可以使病毒傳播得更遠(yuǎn)，導(dǎo)致更多人感染。

Coronavirus has been detected on particles of air pollution by scientists investigating whether this could enable it to be carried over longer distances and increase the number of people infected.

科學(xué)家日前在空氣污染物顆粒上發(fā)現(xiàn)了新冠病毒，他們正在研究，這是否能使病毒傳播得更遠(yuǎn)，并增加感染人數(shù)。

The work is preliminary and it is not yet known if the virus remains viable on pollution particles and in sufficient quantity to cause disease.

這項(xiàng)研究還處于初步階段，目前還不清楚新冠病毒是否能在污染顆粒上存活，以及病毒數(shù)量是否足以致病。

The Italian scientists used standard techniques to collect outdoor air pollution samples at one urban and one industrial site in Bergamo province and identified a gene highly specific to Covid-19 in multiple samples. The detection was confirmed by blind testing at an independent laboratory.

意大利科學(xué)家使用標(biāo)準(zhǔn)技術(shù)在意大利貝加莫省的一個(gè)城市和一個(gè)工業(yè)場(chǎng)所收集了室外空氣污染樣本，并在多個(gè)樣本中都發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種與新冠病毒有高度特異性的基因。這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)已經(jīng)得到另一個(gè)獨(dú)立實(shí)驗(yàn)室盲測(cè)結(jié)果的驗(yàn)證。

Leonardo Setti at the University of Bologna in Italy, who led the work, said it was important to investigate if the virus could be carried more widely by air pollution.

意大利博洛尼亞大學(xué)的萊昂納多·塞蒂是這項(xiàng)研究的負(fù)責(zé)人。他說，研究新冠病毒能否通過空氣污染更廣泛地傳播是很重要的。

“I am a scientist and I am worried when I don’t know,” he said. “If we know, we can find a solution. But if we don’t know, we can only suffer the consequences.”

他說：“我是一名科學(xué)家，當(dāng)我不知道答案的時(shí)候，我會(huì)很擔(dān)心。如果我們知道，我們就能找到解決辦法。但如果我們不知道，我們只能承受后果?！?/p>

Two other research groups have suggested air pollution particles could help coronavirus travel further in the air.

另外兩個(gè)研究小組指出，空氣污染顆?？赡苡兄谛鹿诓《驹诳諝庵袀鞑サ酶h(yuǎn)。

A statistical analysis by Setti’s team suggests higher levels of particle pollution could explain higher rates of infection in parts of northern Italy before a lockdown was imposed, an idea supported by another preliminary analysis. The region is one of the most polluted in Europe.

塞蒂研究團(tuán)隊(duì)的一項(xiàng)統(tǒng)計(jì)分析顯示，意大利北部的部分地區(qū)是歐洲空氣污染最嚴(yán)重的地區(qū)之一，在實(shí)施封鎖措施之前，這些地區(qū)的大氣顆粒物污染水平較高，而那里的新冠病毒感染率也較高。另一項(xiàng)初步分析研究也支持了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Neither of the studies by Setti’s team have been peer-reviewed and therefore have not been endorsed by independent scientists. But experts agree their proposal is plausible and requires investigation.

塞蒂研究團(tuán)隊(duì)的這兩項(xiàng)分析結(jié)果還沒有經(jīng)過同行評(píng)審，因此尚未得到獨(dú)立科學(xué)家的認(rèn)可。但專家們認(rèn)為這一結(jié)果是合理的，需要進(jìn)一步調(diào)查研究。

peer-reviewed[?p?r r??vju?d]：adj.經(jīng)同行評(píng)議的

Previous studies have shown that air pollution particles do harbour microbes and that pollution is likely to have carried the viruses causing bird flu, measles and foot-and-mouth disease over considerable distances.

此前的研究表明，大氣顆粒物中確實(shí)含有微生物，空氣污染很可能會(huì)把導(dǎo)致禽流感、麻疹和口蹄疫的病毒帶到相當(dāng)遠(yuǎn)的地方。

The potential role of air pollution particles is linked to the broader question of how the coronavirus is transmitted. Large virus-laden droplets from infected people’s coughs and sneezes fall to the ground within a metre or two. But much smaller droplets, less than 5 microns in diameter, can remain in the air for minutes to hours and travel further.

空氣污染顆粒的潛在作用與新冠病毒如何傳播這一更廣泛的問題有關(guān)。病毒感染者咳嗽和打噴嚏時(shí)，大量攜帶病毒的飛沫落在一兩米內(nèi)的地面上。但是更小的直徑小于5微米的飛沫可以在空氣中停留幾分鐘到幾小時(shí)，并傳播得更遠(yuǎn)。

Experts are not sure whether these tiny airborne droplets can cause coronavirus infections, though they know the 2003 Sars coronavirus was spread in the air and that the new virus can remain viable for hours in tiny droplets.

專家們并不確定這些微小的空氣飛沫是否會(huì)導(dǎo)致新冠病毒感染，但他們知道2003年的Sars冠狀病毒可以通過空氣傳播，而且新冠病毒可以在微小飛沫中存活數(shù)小時(shí)。

But researchers say the importance of potential airborne transmission, and the possible boosting role of pollution particles, mean it must not be ruled out without evidence.

但研究人員表示，潛在的空氣傳播的重要性，以及污染顆?？赡芷鸬降拇龠M(jìn)作用，意味著在沒有證據(jù)的情況下不能排除這種可能性。

英文來源：衛(wèi)報(bào)

翻譯&編輯：yaning