新冠疫情重創的不只有人類，動物也深受其累，其中就包括無辜的水貂。由于從人類身上感染了新冠病毒，荷蘭、西班牙、美國等地超百萬只水貂被宰殺。

The coronavirus pandemic has already claimed more than a million human lives, but we aren't the only living things in danger from COVID-19: minks are being killed off in their thousands because of the spread of the virus.

新冠大流行病已經奪走了超過100萬人的生命，但人類并非唯一受新冠病毒威脅的生物：由于病毒的傳播，已經有成千上萬的水貂被宰殺。

NBC News reports on the deaths of almost 10,000 minks at farms in Utah in the US, while the picture in Europe has been even bleaker according to Sky News – at a farm in Spain, for example, over 92,000 of the animals have been slaughtered after it was estimated that 90 percent of them had caught the virus.

美國國家廣播公司新聞部曾對美國猶他州農場近1萬只水貂的死亡進行了報道，根據天空新聞報道，歐洲的情況則更為慘烈——比如說在西班牙的一處農場有超過92000只水貂被宰殺，原因是預計那里90%的水貂都感染了新冠病毒。

In the Netherlands, the death toll has been even higher: over 1 million mink have been culled in the country over concerns that the animals could pass the virus back to humans, as per an AP report. World Health Organisation epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove has said the risk of catching COVID-19 from an animal remains "very limited".

在荷蘭，水貂的死亡總數更甚。根據美聯社的報道，因擔憂水貂將病毒傳回給人類，荷蘭國內有超過100萬只水貂被撲殺。世界衛生組織的流行病學家瑪利亞·范·科克浩夫曾表示，從動物身上感染新冠病毒的風險仍舊“十分有限”。

In the case of the Utah outbreak, it covers nine fur farms and has been thought to have been caused by the virus being passed on from an infected handler. The first signs of the virus spreading to minks in the region were spotted back in August.

美國猶他州的疫情暴發涉及到9家皮毛農場，據認為是由一名染病的管理者傳播的病毒。在該地區，病毒傳播給水貂的最初跡象可以追溯至今年8月份。

COVID-19 affects minks in a similar way to people, causing respiratory problems that tend to be worse in older animals. The mustelids group, which includes minks, weasels and badgers, is known to be at particular risk of catching the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

水貂感染新冠病毒的表現和人類很像，會發生呼吸系統問題，較老的動物病情會更嚴重。據悉，包括水貂、黃鼬和獾在內的鼬科動物特別容易感染新冠病毒。

"Minks show open mouth breathing, discharge from their eyes and nose, and are not sick for several days before they pass away," Utah veterinarian Dean Taylor told NBC News. "They typically die within the next day."

“感染后的水貂會張著嘴呼吸，眼睛和鼻子里會流出液體，不會病幾天才死亡，”猶他州的獸醫迪恩·泰勒告訴美國國家廣播公司新聞部說，“他們（染病后）通常第二天就會死亡。”

The lungs of the dead minks were "wet, heavy, red and angry" when examined, veterinary pathologist Tom Baldwin, from Utah State University, told Science. That's consistent with signs of pneumonia, and matches up with investigations carried out in Europe.

猶他州立大學的獸醫病理學家湯姆·鮑德溫告訴《科學》期刊說，在檢查病死的水貂時，能看到肺部是“濕重的、紅色并有炎癥”。這與肺炎的癥狀一致，也和歐洲開展的調查結果相符。

angry: adj.（傷口等）發炎的

Scientists are urgently trying to establish which animals are able to pass the virus back to humans – there are instances of it potentially happening, but as noted by WHO, at the moment the risk is thought to be low (and much lower than the risk of human-to-human transmission).

科學家正迫切地想要查實哪種動物能夠將病毒傳回給人類。雖然有一些潛在的案例，但是世界衛生組織指出，目前認為這種風險較低（而且比人傳人的風險要低很多）。

It appears we can very much pass it on to other species though, as this tragedy among mink populations shows – yet another reason for the rest of the animal kingdom to be very afraid of us.

不過，看起來人類極有可能將病毒傳播給其他物種，正如這場水貂的悲劇所顯示的。這也是動物王國的其他成員非常懼怕我們的另一個原因。

It's another sad story in a year that's been full of them, but there are reasons to be optimistic that a coronavirus vaccine isn't too far off.

這是充滿悲劇的一年里的又一出悲劇，但也有值得樂觀的理由，因為新冠疫苗已經不遠了。

來源：Science Alert、煎蛋網

編審：丹妮