Deadly virus approaches tigers

India’s most important tiger conservation body is to investigate growing concern that Asia’s wild tigers are 【小题1】 to a deadly new disease.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority is to fun d a study of Canine Distemper Virus(CDV) in six of the most important areas for the species, which could confirm a problem that a few experts have 【小题2】for a number of years.

There have been 【小题3】of CDV in wild tigers in other areas. According to Dr Dale Miquelle of the Wildlife Conservation Society, quite a few tigers were either killed or seriously affected by a disease that was probably CDV in 2010. And the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve has also reported a(n) 【小题4】 decline in tiger numbers.

CDV may also exist in the tiger population in Sumatra, where animals have been reported to be behaving 【小题5】and losing their fear of humans.

Dr John Lewis of the British charity Wildlife Vets International is helping the Sumatran【小题6】to fight the risk by training local vets in what he calls “the world’s first tiger- disease monitoring program”.

Lewis also believes that the way CDV changes tigers’ behavior could be a factor where tiger- human 【小题7】are an issue. This could be true of the Sundarbans, a large area shared by India and Bangladesh where man-eating is spreading.

Perhaps we should not be surprised that tigers are 【小题8】with CDV. In 2004, it killed 1,000 lions in the Serengeti in Tanzania, and as wildlife reserves are【小题9】surrounded by people with dogs, the problem is only likely to get worse.

But as Miquelle told BBC Wildlife, “Very few people were aware of the potential threat, let alone looking for it, even if it is 【小题10】in the system. But at least now they are.”

Heartbreak: Romantic Metaphor(比喻) or Serious Health Condition

It is an unfortunate fact of life that most of us will experience the sensation commonly known as “heartbreak” at some point in our lifetime. Heartbreak refers to feelings of extreme sadness, often persistent, due to a(n) 【小题1】 disturbing event. The term “heartbreak” or “broken heart” is usually used in a symbolic sense.

That is, when we say someone is “heartbroken,” we do not mean that their heart has actually 【小题2】. However, what many people do not know is that so-called broken heart syndrome(综合症), often caused by stress, is a recognized 【小题3】 health condition.

Much like when people make metaphorical 【小题4】 to heartbreak, broken heart syndrome is also caused by painful life events. These experiences usually 【小题5】 death, divorce, or separation. However, this condition can have very real negative effects on a sufferer’s health. In clinical settings, broken heart syndrome is often 【小题6】 with a heart attack because many of the symptoms of these two conditions are very similar. The main difference is   that while a heart attack is 【小题7】 by a blockage in one of the heart’s arteries(动脉), broken heart syndrome involves temporary enlargement in one area of the heart. Such enlargement makes it difficult for the heart to continue 【小题8】 blood around the body and thus puts the sufferer at risk of heart failure.

If you have experienced a stressful or painful event, two 【小题9】 symptoms of broken heart syndrome to watch out for are chest pain and breathing difficulties. In fact, 【小题10】 one or both of these symptoms can be vital in helping you seek necessary treatment in the early stages of this condition.

The reason for the mysterious deaths of hundreds of elephants

When hundreds of African savanna elephants dropped dead in Botswana’s Okavango Delta in 2020, conservationists were alarmed. As the death toll rose — from dozens in March to more than 350 animals by July — their 【小题1】 increased, especially because nobody knew what was happening. A short time later, the mystery 【小题2】 when 34 more individuals of the endangered species died across the border in northwestern Zimbabwe in a three-week period, with one more found in November. “It was very quick,” says Chris Foggin, a vet who examined the elephant carcasses (尸体) in Zimbabwe. “That was so 【小题3】.”

African savanna elephants 【小题4】 to this area represent the majority of what’s left of that species. Around 350,000 African savanna elephants remain, and given the already significant 【小题5】 to their survival, a new disease could be what tips that last domino towards extinction.

Now, new research published recently in Nature Communications points to a bacterium not 【小题6】 found in elephants of any species, called Bisgaard taxon 45, that causes a massive systemic blood infection called septicemia. “It’s a disease we know can kill a reasonable number of elephants in a short space of time,” says Foggin, co-leader of the study. And “it has the potential to kill a lot more given the right circumstances.” What those are, however, remains unknown — yet it’s pressing to find out. Aerial population surveys in KAZA in 2022 found a high number of new elephant carcasses. The examination 【小题7】 the elephants had enlarged livers and spleens, as well as internal bleeding in multiple organs — signs of septicemia (败血症).

However, scientists still don’t know how widespread Bisgaard taxon 45 is, or if the bacteria 【小题8】 as a normal group of bacteria within elephants and other animals. “We’re assuming it’s probably present more 【小题9】 than we’ve known, without causing disease, but we don’t have proof of that,” Foggin says. It’s possible environmental stressors, such as heat and lack of food and water, may have led Bisgaard taxon 45 to multiply and cause the septicemia in the Zimbabwe elephants. With much of Africa predicted to get hotter and drier, the bacterium “could cause much worse mortalities down the line,” says Foggin. That’s why, he says, “it is important to 【小题10】 monitoring elephant deaths and see if it’s responsible.”