3月3日是聯合國第七個“世界野生動植物日”，今年全球的主題是
“維護地球所有生命”。2013年12月20日，聯合國大會第68屆會議宣佈每年的3月3日為“世界野生動植物日”，以呼籲人們提升保護野生動植物及其多樣性的意識。
在新冠肺炎疫情暴發、社會對濫食野生動物反映強烈的當下，野生動物保護的問題尤其引人注目。
當今人類新發傳染病或流行病70%都與野生動物有關。人類不斷食用野味、侵佔野生動物的棲息地，野生動物攜帶的病毒傳播給人類的幾率越來越大。
今天，我們就來說說流行病與野生動物的“淵源”。
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新冠肺炎（COVID-19）
2月29日發佈的《中國-世界衛生組織新型冠狀病毒肺炎（COVID-19）聯合考察報告》指出，新冠病毒是一種動物源性病毒，在武漢發現的早期病例被認為是通過動物傳染到人的途徑感染。蝙蝠似乎是該病毒的宿主，但中間宿主尚未查明。此前有研究認為，穿山甲為新型冠狀病毒的潛在中間宿主。
Facts on COVID-19. /CGTN Graphic by Liu Shaozhen
中東呼吸綜合徵（MERS）
此次新冠病毒將冠狀病毒再次推向了風口浪尖。曾經致命的SARS病毒和MERS病毒都屬於冠狀病毒家族，其中MERS病毒的致死率最高，達到34.3%。
2012年以來，MERS疫情已經蔓延到27個國家，其中近80%的病例在沙特阿拉伯。中東、非洲和南亞部分地區的單峰駝很快成為MERS病毒的疑似宿主，因為研究人員在駱駝血清中發現了MERS抗體，表明駱駝曾接觸過這種病毒。
Two dromedary camels. /VCG
2013年11月，一位擁有9頭單峰駱駝的43歲男子感染了MERS病毒。在他出現症狀之前，他的4頭駱駝已經病了。後來，在他和駱駝身上檢測到的MERS病毒基因特徵相同，這進一步證明單峰駝是該病毒的潛在宿主。
此外，2015年在卡塔爾進行的一項研究表明，羊駝也是該病毒的一個潛在宿主。確切的傳播途徑尚不清楚，蝙蝠是MERS病毒的可能源頭。
Facts on MERS. /CGTN Graphic by Liu Shaozhen
The dromedary camels in the Middle East, Africa and parts of South Asia soon became the main suspected reservoir of MERS-CoV as antibodies to MERS-CoV were detected in camel sera, indicating camels have been previously exposed to the virus.
In November 2013, a 43-year-old man who owned nine dromedary camels was infected with MERS-CoV. Before he showed symptoms, four of his camels were sick. Later, MERS-CoV viruses detected in him and the dromedary camel were found to be genetically identical, which further supports that dromedary camels are a potential host of the virus.
尼帕（Nipah virus disease）
Two piglets on grassland. /VCG
說到豬和流行病，也許你會想到尼帕病毒。1998年，在馬來西亞一個名為Kampung Sungai Nipah的村莊，一家養豬場裡的豬和養豬戶出現發燒或抽搐的症狀，隨後確認是尼帕病毒所致。人類發病因素最早是接觸病豬，後來傳播方式轉變為人傳人和飲用被果蝠汙染的椰棗汁。
研究人員認為，豬隻是尼帕病毒的中間宿主，果蝠是原生宿主。他們推測，果蝠吃過的水果落入養豬場，豬吃了這些水果後也感染了病毒。養豬場建在果蝠棲息地附近是疫情暴發的主要原因。豬被運往其他地區導致疫情進一步蔓延。
Facts on Nipah virus disease. /CGTN Graphic by Liu Shaozhen
Scientists speculated that fruits contaminated by bats might drop into pig farms and pigs were infected after eating the fruit. The location of pigsties in the vicinity of fruit bats' habitats is a major cause of the outbreak. The transport of pigs to more areas led to the further spread of the disease.
The Nipah virus can remain stable in the date palm sap for over seven days at 22 degrees Celsius. People mostly got infected from drinking the fresh date palm sap or through contact with sick persons. In outbreaks in Bangladesh and India, human-to-human transmission was often reported, which was different from the outbreaks in Malaysia and Singapore where humans were infected through contact with sick pigs.
埃博拉（Ebola virus disease）
Bonobo mature male and juvenile male in Democratic Republic of the Congo. /VCG
埃博拉病毒得名於1976年在埃博拉河附近一個村莊暴發的疫情。人類一旦感染埃博拉病毒，嚴重時可致體內外出血。接觸這些患者的嘔吐物、血液或其他體液會使更多人感染。
科學家推測，人類感染埃博拉病毒最初是通過直接接觸被感染動物（比如大猩猩或黑猩猩）的血液或體液。但猩猩不太可能是埃博拉病毒的天然宿主，研究人員認為，天然宿主可能是果蝠。
Facts on Ebola virus disease. /CGTN Graphic by Liu Shaozhen
Scientists speculated that the Ebola virus was initially spread to humans through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of infected animals, such as gorillas and chimpanzees.
Once people are infected, they normally have a fever, muscle pain and headache in the beginning. As their conditions deteriorate, they would vomit and have diarrhea. Worst of all, they would bleed internally and externally. The touch of these patients' vomis, blood or other body fluids would get more people infected. That's how the Ebola virus spread in humans.
亨德拉（Hendra virus disease）
A horse with its mouth wide open. /VCG
亨德拉病毒感染是造成受感染的馬和人嚴重患病的一種罕見的人畜共患疾病。狐屬狐蝠科的果蝠是這一病毒的天然宿主。
1994年，澳大利亞布里斯班郊區亨德拉鎮的21匹賽馬出現了類似流感的呼吸道疾病症狀，14匹賽馬和1人死亡。蝙蝠將病毒傳給馬的途徑仍然未知，科學家推測賽馬可能接觸了狐蝠的唾液、尿液或被狐蝠汙染的食物而感染。根據悉尼大學2017年的一項研究，亨德拉病毒感染的風險與人類入侵狐蝠棲息地有關。
Facts on Hendra virus disease. /CGTN Graphic by Liu Shaozhen
In 1994, 21 stabled racehorses in Hendra, a suburb in Brisbane, Australia, had flu-like symptoms similar to respiratory diseases. Soon, 14 of them died and a new virus named Hendra was isolated from the horse's lung tissue. Two people who had closely taken care of these ill horses, a horse trainer and a groom, were infected. One died with severe pneumonia and the other survived an influenza-like illness.
Although the mechanism of bat-to-horse transmission is still a mystery, scientists speculated that horses might be infected from eating food contaminated by urine, saliva or other things from the flying foxes. According to a study made by researchers from the University of Sydney in 2017, the risk of Hendra infection was correlated with human intrusion into habitats of flying foxes.
馬爾堡（Marburg virus disease）
Vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops) are also known as African green monkeys. /VCG
馬爾堡病毒又稱綠猴病病毒，源自非洲烏干達一帶。1967年，西德馬爾堡等地幾所醫學實驗室的工作人員中同時暴發了一種嚴重出血熱，他們多是因為接觸實驗室內染有馬爾堡病的非洲綠猴而致病。
近年來，馬爾堡病毒較大的兩次流行發生在剛果民主共和國（ 1998 年至 2000 年），以及安哥拉（2005年），死亡率超過80%。
雖然科學家認為是非洲綠猴將這種病毒傳播給人類，但它並不是自然宿主，因為猴子一旦感染便很快死亡。自然宿主可與病毒共存，埃及果蝠就是其中之一，但其是否為馬爾堡病毒的唯一天然宿主仍然未知。
Facts on Marburg virus disease. /CGTN Graphic by Liu Shaozhen
Although African green monkeys are considered to bring the virus to humans during the first outbreak, they are not natural hosts of the Marburg virus because they also die quickly once infected. To be the natural hosts, they have to live safely with the virus. Egyptian fruit bats are the ones.
In 2007, 40 years after the first outbreak, the common Egyptian fruit bat was detected to be infected, and the Marburg virus was isolated from healthy infected bats caught in Uganda in the same year. Mines or caves inhabited by these fruit bats are the Marburg virus reservoir. However, it remains unknown whether the Egyptian fruit bat is the exclusive natural host for the Marburg virus.
以上這些讓我們更加認識到，人類和野生動物是緊密相連的。這同時也在提醒我們，加強對野生動物的保護、加大涉野生動物犯罪活動打擊力度，對維護生物多樣性和生態系統平衡意義重大。
全國人大常委會日前通過關於全面禁止非法野生動物交易的決定，最高檢也發佈了野生動物保護公益訴訟典型案例。全國上下迅速行動起來，大力加強野生動物監管，革除濫食野生動物陋習的理念日益深入人心。
“拯救野生動物就是拯救我們自己”，不僅僅是一句空洞的口號而已。
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