Fredros Okumu: Why I study the most dangerous animal on earth -- mosquitoes
佛雷德羅斯.歐庫姆: 為什麼我要研究地球上最危險的動物──蚊子
Fredros Okumu studies human-mosquito interactions, hoping to better understand how to keep people from getting malaria. Full bio
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to welcome all of you once again.
a victim of this bug here?
of all the mosquito catchers.
mosquito bites every day.
有傳染性的蚊子叮咬七次。
I moved to the Kilombero River valley
one of the most malarious zones
locally known as degedege.
在當地稱為 degedege。
adults and children,
成人或小孩,都無法倖免,
Ifakara Health Institute,
伊法克拉衛生研究所,
for the local communities.
refers to a place you go to die,
意味著你過世的地方,
of what life used to be here
organized public health care.
出現之前的生活。
was going on across the villages
were transmitting the disease.
of Ifakara town across the river.
with flashlights and siphons.
和虹吸管進入村落。
that were coming to bite us
selected a household,
swapping positions every half hour.
每半小時換一次位置。
for 24 consecutive nights.
連續做了二十四個晚上。
and chopping off their heads
並把牠們的頭砍下來,
carrying malaria parasites
how much malaria was going on here
這裡有多少瘧疾,
were carrying this malaria.
inside houses or outside houses.
I still catch mosquitoes for a living.
我仍然靠捕捉蚊子維生。
people's lives and well-being.
改善人們的生活和安康。
the most dangerous animal on earth --
地球上最危險的動物──
know about mosquitoes?
our best practice against malaria
對抗瘧疾最好的做法
insecticide treated bednets.
to insecticides.
that are put on these bednets.
protect you from bites
能保護你不被叮咬,
the mosquitoes that they should.
to be able to get to zero.
做更多,才能消滅瘧疾。
on the biology of the mosquito,
so we can identify new opportunities.
是希望能找出新機會。
with things such as bednets
with you a few examples
my colleagues and myself do.
or far from your house.
或離你的房子很遠。
to control mosquito larvae,
quite difficult to get them.
and I have decided to do
we used mosquitoes themselves
from a place of our choice
they lay there shall not survive.
都不會有蚊子存活。
who runs this show at Ifakara.
伊法克拉主導此事的人。
that you can actually get mosquitoes
where they normally come to get blood
of sterilants or insecticide,
to their own breeding habitat
that you can do this
for malaria research.
colonies of malaria mosquitoes
自立謀生的瘧疾蚊子群體,
and test them immediately,
or control them in some way.
或以某種方式控制其數量。
two or three positions
pick up these lethal substances,
in just three months.
將這些群體消滅。
in what we call swarms.
成群方式在交配的。
usually after sunset.
在地平線附近成群結隊,
of their choice,
male in their view.
選最好看的公蚊子。
and fall down onto the floor.
work gets really interesting.
在此處就變得很有意思了。
swamp hunting in the villages,
成群的蚊子,我們看見
tend to be at exactly the same location
the same time of the evening,
the same locations.
all these locations across villages,
這些地點標在地圖上,
by just a single blow.
or nuke them out.
投炸彈或是原子彈。
with young men and women
how to identify the swarms,
教導他們如何辨識蚊子集群,
we have a new window
eat blood, human blood,
the most dangerous animal on earth.
sometimes as 100 meters away.
between two family members.
不同的兩位家人。
based on what you produce
sweat and body odor.
牠們就知道你是誰。
your body, your sweat or your breath
或呼吸中,有什麼成份
we created a concoction,
我們就能調製出
a blend of synthetic substances
of what you produce from your body.
more mosquitoes than a human being.
蚊子數量有三到五倍之多。
of mosquitoes and you kill them, right?
再把蚊子殺光,對吧?
use it for surveillance.
on the biology of the mosquito;
蚊子之生物學的了解;
including, of course, the malaria,
當然,包括瘧疾,
that mosquitoes transmit
for example --
叮咬人類腿部的狀況。
like to bite you on the leg region.
these mosquito repellent sandals
when they're coming.
with mosquitoes continues.
愛恨交織的關係持續著,
a long way, I can see.
to eliminate malaria from 35 countries.
目標:消滅 35 個國家的瘧疾。
from the continent.
消滅非洲大陸上的瘧疾。
behind these goals.
強力支持這些目標。
a cohort of young scientists,
一個年輕科學家團隊,
to make this vision come true.
that these dreams come true.
free of malaria transmitting mosquitoes
不會有傳染瘧疾的蚊子,
(註:一種基因編輯技術)
using CRISPR to kill off mosquitoes?
來殺光蚊子,你的看法是?
let's start from what the problem is.
我們先想想問題是什麼。
about a disease that still kills --
一種還會造成死亡的疾病──
we have from WHO --
in malaria burden.
才能完全消滅它。
to get to zero.
such as CRISPR,
either they do not transmit malaria --
that even if you were to release
genetically modified mosquitoes,
elimination very, very quickly.
offer us some real opportunities --
提供給我們真實的機會──
to have high-impact interventions
in addition to what we have now
to ask this as well --
eliminate mosquitoes?"
I would just like to remind my colleagues
我想要提醒我的同事們,
mosquito species in this world.
have any capacity to transmit malaria.
three or four of these as the major guys.
of all the malaria we have.
99% 都是由牠們造成。
with gene editing like CRISPR,
像 CRISPR 的基因編輯,
with gene drives to control malaria,
to eliminate these mosquitoes effectively
很有效的方式消滅這些蚊子:
in America have sprayed with --
these insects out of the villages.
來對付村落中的這些昆蟲。
of household spraying.
solely at killing the mosquitoes.
唯一目標就是殺死蚊子。
if we had a new tool.
也完全沒問題。
very, very responsible here.
and we have to partner with our regulators
我們要和我們的監管機構合作,
that we do is done correctly,
independent risk assessments,
do not fall into the wrong hands.
落入危險份子手中。
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Fredros Okumu - Mosquito scientistFredros Okumu studies human-mosquito interactions, hoping to better understand how to keep people from getting malaria.
Why you should listen
Fredros Okumu is director of science at the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI). Since 2008, Okumu has been studying human-mosquito interactions and developing new techniques to complement existing malaria interventions and accelerate efforts towards elimination. His other interests include quantitative ecology of residual malaria vectors, mathematical simulations to predict effectiveness of interventions, improved housing for marginalized communities and prevention of child malnutrition.
Okumu was awarded the Young Investigator Award by the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2009, a Welcome Trust Intermediate Research Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine (2014-2019) and, most recently, a Howard Hughes-Gates International Research Scholarship (2018-2023). He is co-chair of the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda consultative group on tools for elimination and a co-chair of the WHO Vector Control Working Group on new tools for malaria vector control. Okumu was named one of the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" by Foreign Policy in 2016.
Fredros Okumu | Speaker | TED.com