RIO DE JANEIRO — In the campaign against mosquitoes, Brazil has deployed¹ soldiers to destroy habitats where the insects thrive. Colombia is releasing swarms² of mosquitoes treated with bacteria that limit their capacity to spread disease. Mexico is testing the first vaccine³ against dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus raging throughout the region.

里约热内卢——为了消灭蚊子，巴西派遣士兵去摧毁蚊子滋生的栖息地。哥伦比亚放出了大批经过细菌处理的蚊子，该细菌可以限制蚊子传播疾病的能力。而墨西哥正在测试第一支登革热疫苗，这种蚊媒病毒正在整个地区肆虐。

Yet at each turn, mosquitoes are outwitting their human opponents, a challenge highlighted by the United States’ decision to advise pregnant women to postpone⁴ traveling to more than a dozen Latin American or Caribbean countries and Puerto Rico where mosquitoes are rapidly expanding the reach of Zika, the virus linked to a surge in cases of infants born with brain damage.

但是在每轮战斗中，蚊子都击败了人类对手，美国的一个决定更是突显了该问题的严重性——美国建议，计划前往十多个拉丁美洲和加勒比国家以及波多黎各的孕妇，应延期出行，因为在这个地区，蚊子正迅速扩大兹卡病毒(Zika)的传播范围。这种病毒可能导致婴儿出生时就患有脑损伤，目前这种病例出现了激增。

The warning by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has intensified⁵ a debate across Latin America over the hemisphere’s growing vulnerability to mosquito-borne diseases. These concerns are especially acute in Brazil, the region’s largest country, where officials hope that tourism can help revive a beleaguered⁶ economy as they prepare to host the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

西半球对蚊媒传染病日益脆弱的防线，已经在拉丁美洲各地引发了争论，而亚特兰大的美国疾病控制与预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)发布的这项警告，更是加剧了这种争论。在巴西，人们的担忧尤为严重。巴西是该地区最大的国家，2016年夏季奥运会将在这里的里约热内卢举办，官员们寄望旅游业能有助于重振该国陷入困境的经济。

Henrique Alves, Brazil’s tourism minister, took issue with the C.D.C.’s warning on Saturday. He argued that the Brazilian authorities were adopting measures to prevent Zika from intensifying⁷ in the country, even though health officials were investigating more than 3,500 cases of microcephaly, a previously⁸ rare condition linked to Zika in which infants are born with abnormally small heads.

巴西旅游部长恩里克·阿尔维斯(Henrique Alves)对美国疾控中心上周六发布的警告表达了不满。阿尔维斯说，巴西当局正在采取措施，防止兹卡在该国蔓延；但是该国卫生官员正在调查逾3500起婴儿小头症(microcephaly)病例，这种与兹卡有关的疾病以前很罕见，患病婴儿在出生时头部小得不正常。

Asked in a telephone interview if Brazil was a safe destination for pregnant women, Mr. Alves responded, “I think so, without a doubt,” emphasizing that his government’s decision to refrain from travel alerts regarding Zika coincided with World Health Organization’s policies.

当被问及巴西作为旅游目的地对孕妇是否安全时，阿尔维斯在电话采访中说：“我想是的，毫无疑问。”他强调，巴西政府决定暂不发布有关兹卡的旅游警告，与世界卫生组织(WTO)的政策是一致的。

Mr. Alves added that he expected the Zika outbreak to ease to the point so that the Olympics here in August would not be affected⁹.

阿尔维斯还说，他预计兹卡疫情将会有效缓解，不会影响8月在这里举办的奥运会。

Yet others in Brazil applauded the C.D.C.’s alert, pointing to the country’s struggle not just with Zika, a virus with origins in Uganda that is thought to have made the leap to Brazil in 2014, but also with two other mosquito-borne viruses, dengue and chikungunya. Last year, Brazil registered more than 1.6 million cases of dengue, a virus causing fever and joint pain, with 863 people dying from the disease.

但在巴西，其他人却对美国疾控中心发出的警告提出了称赞，指出该国不仅在努力控制兹卡病毒，还在与另外两种蚊媒病毒——登革热和基孔肯雅热(chikungunya)抗争。据信，源于乌干达的兹卡病毒于2014年传播至巴西。去年，巴西登记的登革热病例超过了160万例，有863人死于这种疾病。这种病毒会引起发烧和关节痛。

Those infected with Zika usually experience mild or no symptoms. It is not known whether the virus alone causes microcephaly or if it occurs only if the mother has had a previous infection, like dengue.

感染兹卡病毒的人通常出现轻微症状，或没有症状。目前尚不清楚小头症是否由这种病毒单独引起，还是只在母亲之前感染过登革热等病毒的情况下，才会发病。

Zika has emerged as a health threat elsewhere in Latin America. In El Salvador, cases of Zika have escalated¹⁰ since it was first reported at the end of November. As of last week, 3,836 cases had been reported, and the government raised the alert level in 47 municipalities where the illness had been detected. The government is planning intensive fumigation¹¹ campaigns in those areas.

兹卡病毒还在拉丁美洲其他地方蔓延，成为健康威胁。在萨尔瓦多，自11月末首次通报兹卡病例以来，感染人数急剧增加。截至上周，该国已有3836个报告病例。政府在47个出现病例的市镇提高了警戒级别。政府正计划在这些地区开展密集的喷雾消毒行动。

El Salvador’s Health Ministry¹² is particularly concerned about the rise of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome¹³, which leads to paralysis¹⁴, usually temporary; researchers are exploring a possible link between Guillain-Barré and Zika. Forty-six suspected cases of the syndrome had been reported as of last week, Violeta Menjívar, the Health minister, said in a radio interview.

格利-巴林综合症病例的增加令萨尔瓦多卫生部尤其担心，这种疾病会导致瘫痪，瘫痪症状通常是暂时的。研究人员正在探究格林-巴利综合症与兹卡病毒之间的潜在联系。该国卫生部长维奥莱塔·蒙吉瓦尔(Violeta Menjívar)在接受电台采访时表示，截至上周，上报的格利-巴林综合症疑似病例已达到46例。

Dr. Pablo Kuri Morales, Mexico’s undersecretary for Prevention and Health Promotion¹⁵, said in a telephone interview on Saturday that Mexico had diagnosed 15 cases of Zika, 10 of them in the state of Chiapas, on the border of Guatemala. He added that the authorities were preparing a television and radio campaign to warn everybody, especially women of reproductive age.

周六，墨西哥疾病预防与健康促进部(Prevention and Health Promotion)副部长巴勃罗·库里·莫拉莱斯(Pablo Kuri Morales)博士接受电话采访时表示，墨西哥已经诊断出15个兹卡病例，其中10例出现在靠近危地马拉边境的恰帕斯州。他还表示，当局正在准备发起电视及电台宣传，对所有人发出警告，特别是针对育龄妇女。

Dr. Kuri said the C.D.C. was “within its rights” to issue the travel warning, but he argued that the blanket admonition did not make sense when the virus has appeared in only three Mexican states. The mosquitoes that carry the virus, he said, could not survive in the high altitudes of the central plateau, including Mexico City.

库里博士表示，美国疾控中心“有权利”发布旅游警告，但他辩称，墨西哥只有三个州出现兹卡病例，发布这种一刀切的警告不合情理。他表示，携带病毒的蚊子无法在高海拔的中央平原存活，包括墨西哥城。

“I think it’s good to have these warnings,” he said, “but these things should be explained to people.”

“我觉得发布警告是正确的，”他说。“但应该向人们说明这些情况。”

In Washington, administration officials said the decision to issue a travel alert on Friday developed quickly at the end of the week and set off a flurry of diplomatic efforts to inform officials in the countries named in the alert.

在华盛顿，政府官员表示，相关机构很快就在周末做出了于周五发布旅游警告的决定，并开展一系列外交努力，通知了警告所涉及国家的官员。

Officials said the notification process forced the C.D.C. to postpone a news conference that had been planned for Friday afternoon, ultimately delaying an announcement until that evening.

官员们表示，这个通知程序迫使疾控中心推迟了原本定于周五下午召开的新闻发布会，最终延迟到晚上才公布消息。

Aside from anecdotal accounts, it seems too early to tell how the alert will affect travel. In Brazil, Olympic officials emphasized that the Games will take place in August, during the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. The dryer¹⁶, cooler weather around that time is thought to reduce the presence of mosquitoes, though virologists warn that the insects can transmit viruses year-round in Brazil.

除了各种传言，现在断定这种警告会如何影响旅游还为时过早。在巴西，奥运官员强调，奥运会将在8月举行，那会儿是南半球的冬季。人们认为，到时候干燥、凉爽的天气会致使蚊子减少，尽管病毒学家警告称这种昆虫能够全年在巴西传播病毒。

“Rio 2016 will continue to monitor the issue closely and follow guidance from the Brazilian Ministry of Health,” said Philip Wilkinson, a spokesman for the committee organizing the Games.

里约奥组委发言人菲利普·威尔金森(Philip Wilkinson)表示，“2016里约奥组委将持续密切关注这个问题，并听从巴西卫生部的指导。”

Dr. Isaac I. Bogoch, a tropical infectious disease specialist at the University of Toronto who is part of a team modeling the potential for Zika to spread, warned that the Olympics could serve as a catalyst¹⁷ for the virus, which some researchers believe may have arrived in Brazil during another sports mega-event, the 2014 World Cup.

多伦多大学(University of Toronto)热带传染病专家伊萨克·I·博格赫(Isaac I. Bogoch)博士警告称，奥运会可能成为这种病毒的催化剂，一些研究人员认为，这种病毒可能是在举办另一场体育盛事——2014年世界杯——期间传播到巴西的。博格赫参与了一个通过建模来研究兹卡病毒潜在传播范围的小组。

“There will be people traveling to Brazil from all over the world,” Dr. Bogoch said in an email.

博格赫博士在邮件中表示，“世界各地的人都会前往巴西。”

“The concern is that infected individuals will travel back to their home country and introduce the virus to new regions.”

“令人担心的是，那些感染病毒的人会回到自己国家，将病毒带到新区域。”

Dr. Bogoch and other researchers determined¹⁸ that Zika had the potential to rapidly spread to other parts of the world, according to findings published last week in the British medical journal The Lancet.

英国医学期刊《柳叶刀》(Lancet)上周发表的文章显示，博格赫及其他研究人员确定，兹卡病毒可能会迅速传播至世界其他地区。