On September 8, 1976, in the Yumbuku village hospital, near the tiny Ebola river in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, a school teacher died, becoming the first known victim of a still-mysterious disease.

1976年的九月八號，在剛果共和國靠近伊波拉小河的一家Yumbuku村落裡的醫院，一位老師死了，成為遭受這未知疾病之害而死亡的第一人

The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is by far the worst in the short history of this strange virus, and it’s ignited a wave of alarm and generalized freak-out around the world.

這次伊波拉在西非的爆發，是伊波拉短短的歷史中最為嚴重的一次，這也引起了世界各地的擔憂以及普遍的恐慌。

Today we’re gonna give you a detailed, accurate explanation of this disease to try and give this whole situation a nice calm, comforting, scientific hug.

今天我們會給你關於這疾病更仔細精確的解釋，藉此給現在大眾普遍的恐慌一個大又溫暖又具有科學性質的擁抱。

[MUSIC]

There’s a lot we still don’t know about Ebola. We don’t know how long it’s been around.

還有很多關於伊波拉的事是我們不知道的，我們不知道這病毒生存多久了。

We aren’t sure where it hides. We don’t know exactly how it kills, or who may be immune.

我們不知道它到底潛伏在哪裡，也不清楚它是怎麼致人於死的，或是誰可能對它免疫。

But… there’s also a lot we do know.

但也有很多事我們肯定了解：

Ebola is a big deal and it should be taken very seriously, but the most frightening adversary is the one we don’t understand.

伊波拉病毒不容忽視而且我們應該認真看待這問題，但我們卻對這可怕的敵人一竅不通。

As science writer David Quammen wrote, “Ebola is no death angel… it’s just a virus.”

科學作家David Quammen書上寫著：伊波拉並不是死神，它只是個病毒罷了。

Ebolavirus describes a genus of viruses in the family Filoviridae.

伊波拉病毒為絲狀病毒科下的一個種類。

While most viruses house themselves in geometric armor that would make Buckminster Fuller proud, this family of viruses package their genome inside long, worm-like filaments.

當大多數的病毒將它們自己覆蓋在連巴克敏斯特·富勒(知名建築師)都會感到驕傲的幾何形保護層下，這種病毒科將自己的基因組包裹在又長又像蟲一般的細線裡。

“THE Ebola virus”, the one responsible for the 2014 outbreak, is one of the five known viruses in that genus, a strain called the “Zaire ebola virus.”

造成2014年大恐慌的「伊波拉病毒」就是在這類病毒已知的五種分支下其中的一個，叫做「薩伊病毒」

When we say someone “has Ebola”, they have "Ebola virus disease", which is a severe infection with a laundry list of side effects including abdominal pain, headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, sore throat, loss of appetite, joint pain, diarrhea, bleeding from the gums, rash, and hiccups.

當我們說某人「得了伊波拉」意思是他們得了「伊波拉病毒造成的疾病」，這是種很嚴重的感染現象。，而且還有一連串副作用，像是腹痛、頭痛、發燒、噁心、嘔吐、嘔吐、喉嚨痛、沒胃口、關節痛、腹瀉、牙齦出血、起疹子以及不停的打嗝

Books like 1994’s "The Hot Zone" are filled with accounts of liquified organs and bleeding eyes, but that doesn’t really happen.

在1994年所出版的「伊波拉浩劫」裡充滿著關於液化的器官以及流血的雙眼的描述，但是那些都不是真的。

Ultimately, Ebola kills through massive organ failure, which is a nice way of saying that the body’s machinery just breaks down from damage.

最後伊波拉讓人們因器官衰竭而死亡，這是種比較好聽的說法，事實上只是身體的運作因為有一些損害所以失靈了

Diseases like Ebola seem to pop up out of nowhere, madder than a cat in the bathtub.

伊波拉這樣的疾病不知道是從那裡冒出來的，比一隻待在浴缸裡的貓還瘋狂。

But they have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is usually animals.

但它們一定是從哪裡跑出來的，而通常那些地方是在動物身上。

We call this process of animal-to-human crossover infection zoonosis.

我們把這種從動物傳到人類身上交叉感染過程稱為人畜共通傳染病。

Zoonosis is a complex and fascinating subject that really deserves its own video… note to self, make video about zoonosis…

人畜共通傳染病是一種很複雜而且迷人的主題，甚至值得一個以它為主題的影片......提醒自己，做個跟人畜共通傳染病有關的影片

They include swine flu, SARS, West Nile, and the bubonic plague… …and rabies, HIV, Lyme disease, Marburg, Hantavirus, dengue, bird flu… you know, all the really fun ones.

這種傳染病包括SARS、西尼羅熱、黑死病、狂犬病、愛滋病、萊姆症、馬堡病毒、漢他病毒、登革熱、禽流感......你知道，比較有趣的這些

Zoonotic diseases hide out in “reservoir hosts”, which are animals that carry the infection with little or no illness, until humans, spreading ever-deeper into the wild, come into contact by handling or eating them, which gives the virus an opportunity to jump into our species.

人畜共通傳染病躲藏在帶病原宿主的身上，這些是指帶著感染可是只有稍微一些或是根本沒有不舒服的症狀的動物，直到人類不停的將觸角延伸到野外，而且觸摸或是吃了牠們，給了這些病毒機會跳到我們身上感染我們

A current evidence points to fruit bats as at least one of Ebola’s natural reservoirs.

目前證據指出狐蝠為伊波拉病毒的自然帶原宿主之一。

Disturbingly, Ebola seems to regularly spill over to chimpanzee and gorilla populations, with even deadlier consequences.

很詭異地，伊波拉似乎經常擴散到黑猩猩及大猩猩的族群內，並且造成更致命的結果。

This ability to lie silently in wait like a deadly, viral ninja is what makes diseases like Ebola so worrisome.

這種像是致命的病毒忍者才會有的悄悄地埋伏等待的能力，是讓伊波拉病毒那麼令人擔憂的原因。

So how scared should we be?

所以我們對此應該要多恐懼呢？

To be completely honest… unless you live in a very specific part of West Africa, are traveling to a very specific part of West Africa, or you are a medical professional treating people currently infected with the Ebola virus, you’re probably not gonna get Ebola.

老實說吧......除非你住在西非一個非常特定的區域、去西非某個特定的區域旅遊、或者你是個在治療被伊波拉感染的人的醫生，你應該不會得到伊波拉。

But there are a few reasons that Ebola is unlikely to set off a global game of deadly pandemic dominoes.

但還是有很多原因讓伊波拉不會展開普遍且致命的全球性骨牌遊戲。

"Guess what everybody, that's an outbreak!"

「大家看看，那是個爆發！」

As diseases go, Ebola is no record setter in the infection department.

當這疾病消失之後，伊波拉在傳染病這方面來說也不是個厲害的紀錄保持者了。

The basic reproduction number, or R0, for a disease describes how many new people typically get sick from one sick person.

基礎再生數，也就是R0，用來代表被其他人傳染的人們所新增的數量。

Take a disease like measles, that number is high. But Ebola’s R0 is much lower, even lower than influenza.

拿麻疹這樣的疾病來說，它的基礎再生數很高。但是伊波拉的R0相較起來非常低，甚至低於流感

One reason for that is because of how Ebola is transmitted.

造成這樣的其中一個原因在於伊波拉是如何被傳播的。

People infected with the flu virus can walk down the street free of symptoms, but spewing out virus like an infection fountain.

被流感病毒感染的人可以毫無異狀地走在街上，像個感染病的噴泉一樣嘴巴散出這些病毒。

But Ebola isn’t contagious before symptoms show up, which means that with careful medical observation, it can be quarantined.

但伊波拉在症狀出現以前不具有傳染性，也就是說經過細心的醫療照護，它是可以被隔離的。

Also, You can not catch Ebola just by sitting in the same room, or a train, or an airplane with someone who is infected, unless you make out with them or they vomit on your face or something.

再來，你不會因為跟伊波拉感染者坐在同個房間、車廂裡或是同台飛機上就會被傳染，除非你跟他們親熱或是他們直接嘔吐在你臉上之類的。

Infection requires direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is showing symptoms or has recently died.

需要和出現症狀的人或是最近死去的人有體液的直接接觸才會造成感染現象。

Airborne viruses like influenza must survive for long periods of time in air without drying, and they’re usually concentrated in the lungs.

空氣傳染的病毒像是流感必須得在空氣中生存很久避免乾枯，且它們大多是集中在肺部。

Ebola doesn’t do either of those things.

而伊波拉病毒並不是如此

It just didn’t evolve to infect through the air, and there is NO indication that the virus could go airborne.

它並沒有演化成可以透過空氣傳染的病毒，也沒有任何徵兆顯示這種病毒能夠透過空氣傳播

None. Now, this is science, and I can’t say it definitely can’t happen, but it’s like really, really close to that.

完全沒有。現在這就是科學了，我不能說這種情形絕對不會發生，但真的真的大概就是那樣了。

While Ebola spreads more slowly than other diseases, it’s extremely lethal.

即使伊波拉的傳播速度比其他的疾病還要慢了許多，它還是非常致命的。

Check out this simulation from The Washington Post to see how that makes a difference (link in the description)

看看華盛頓郵報提供的模擬動畫吧！可以更清楚說明差別在哪裡。

On our Facebook page, I asked if people were scared of Ebola.

我在我們的臉書上問了大家是否怕伊波拉的存在。

Hundreds of you responded, and despite coverage like this… "Another case of Ebola in America! A new case of Ebola! A Texas healthcare worker does have Ebola!", the response was overwhelmingly “no”, because most of us live in countries with good public health systems are very well-equipped to handle this sort of thing.

即使有很多新聞報導像是「美國爆發另一起病例！又出現另一名伊波拉病患！一名德州醫護人員證實遭受伊波拉病毒感染！」你們有好幾百人回應「不怕！」因為大多數的我們居住在有著良好醫療體制，並且裝備完善足以對抗伊波拉病毒的國家

But what if you live in West Africa? People are dying there, and just because I’m not concerned about getting Ebola doesn’t mean I shouldn’t care about them.

但如果你是住在西非的人呢？很多人正在瀕臨死亡，而我不擔心受到感染並不代表我不應該關心住在那邊的居民。

Without serious intervention the situation in Africa will probably get worse before it gets better.

若沒有嚴謹的介入在西非的現狀，那邊的情況可能會在好轉前變得更糟。

This outbreak could persist for years. The biggest reason?

這場疾病的爆發可能會持續好幾年，最大的原因是什麼呢？

The countries with the highest numbers of infectious disease deaths, are the countries with the lowest amount of public health spending.

因為感染伊波拉而死亡的人數最高的國家，剛好也是那些投注最少成本在公共健康安全的國家。

In many ways, Ebola itself is a symptom of a bigger health crisis.

在許多方面來說，伊波拉本身代表一個更顯著的健康安全危機的徵兆。

It makes screening, monitoring, treating, and quarantining all those infected individuals, and safely disposing of the dead extremely difficult.

這使得醫療篩檢、治療、對感染的患者進行隔離以及解剖死者的屍體十分的困難。

And as Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the World Health Organization, wrote last week, “rumors and panic are spreading faster than the virus,” which is definitely not helping.

像是世界衛生組織總幹事陳馮富珍博士在上週所說：「謠言及恐慌散播得比病毒還快。」，這樣不會有幫助。

There are some hopeful treatments being developed, like experimental vaccines, or Ebola-killing antibodies from mice that are disguised to look human and manufactured in tobacco plants!

有些滿有希望的解藥正在研發當中，像是一些實驗性的疫苗，或是可以伊波拉病毒的抗體，它是從假裝是人類的實驗鼠身上取來，並且用煙草來製造。

That’s definitely the best thing to ever come out of tobacco.

而這一定是從煙草裡能提煉出的最好的東西了。

The research in all these new medicines costs money that drug companies aren’t always willing to spend, but luckily people with deep pockets are helping to fund some of the response.

為了這些研究而投注在其中的成本沒有藥廠願意承擔，但幸運的是那些口袋比較深的人願意提供資金支持。

Viruses like this scare us because we can’t see them, we can only see the damage they do.

像這樣的病毒可怕的原因在於我們看不到它們，我們只看得到它們造成的傷亡。

But fear and panic and paranoia and misinformation don’t help us overcome challenges, they create new ones.

但是害怕、恐慌、妄想及錯誤的一些資訊無法讓我們克服這難關，這樣只會造成更多麻煩。

So let’s take a deep breath, trust in science, and get to work.

所以呢，我們一起深呼吸吧，相信科學，然後開始工作！

Check out David Quammen's book "Ebola" for some stories of what we do and don't know about this virus from scientists who are working on the front lines.

看看這本大衛‧逵曼所寫的「伊波拉」這本書，裏頭有在前線工作的科學家們所提供的一些我們已經知道或不了解的相關資訊。

I’ll continue to post updates on Tumblr and Twitter as new information comes out.

如果有新消息出來，我會隨即在Tumblr與Twitter放上最新資料告訴大家

Until then, stay curious, and to quote Douglas Adams: Don't panic.

在那之前，保持你的好奇心，然後就像道格拉斯·亞當斯說的：「別怕」。