Yellow fever began to spread in Brazil in 2016, severely threatening the golden lion tamarin, a little monkey living in the rainforest of southeastern Brazil, whose population was small even before the outbreak. So, scientists created a vaccine (疫苗) to protect the monkeys. But, it is a new idea to vaccinate animals. Historically, conservationists have believed that humans should not interfere directly with wildlife. A traditional saying in the world of conservation work is “Leave it as is.”
However, Tony Goldberg, a scientist and animal doctor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, believes in vaccinating wild animals when possible. “Some people say we shouldn’t touch nature. But really, there are no unspoiled natural habitats left.” he said . “This epidemic moved very quickly from north to south, across the country — no wildlife does that. It’s people. They cross vast distances in buses, trains, planes. They bring the disease with them. We realized that in five years, we could lose the entire population if we did nothing.”
The vaccine led to antibodies in the tested monkeys and caused no harm, the scientists found. So far, about 300 have been vaccinated and are reported to be doing well. Tests show that more than 90 percent of the monkeys have immunity or resistance to the virus since vaccination.
The outbreak of yellow fever is no longer a big problem for the monkeys, and their population is starting to come back. But even with the success of the vaccine program, scientists are still not sure about creating vaccines for other animals. Jacob Negrey, a biologist who studies monkeys, wondered about unpredictable effects of such wildlife treatment. He explained that you might create a treatment that helps one kind of animal but hurts another.
【小题1】What caused monkeys to get infected with yellow fever?| A．Human activities. |
| B．Loss of their habitat. |
| C．Convenient transportation. |
| D．The development of Science and technology. |
| A．They are resistant to all viruses. |
| B．They are no longer endangered animals. |
| C．There is an increase in their population. |
| D．Some of them are harmed by the vaccine. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Optimistic. | C．Doubtful. | D．Neutral. |
| A．Vaccinating animals: a heated debate | B．Yellow fever: a threat to monkeys |
| C．Protecting monkeys: a top priority | D．Vaccine: a blessing for monkeys |
