病媒蚊蟲調查的研究,若能大量快速地鑑別誘集到的蚊子種類,當可加速病媒監控及研擬防疫措施。國立中興大學昆蟲學系杜武俊教授及葉文斌教授共同開發出一個常見病媒蚊 DNA 鑑定晶片,可同時鑑定出九個重要病媒蚊種,與目前由專業人員一隻隻鑑定的方式相較,可大幅縮短鑑別時間及人力。此一研究受到美國昆蟲學會的重視,刊登在最近一期的醫學昆蟲學期刊(Journal of Medical Entomology)。
國立中興大學昆蟲學系杜武俊教授及葉文斌教授共同開發出一個常見病媒蚊 DNA 鑑定晶片,可同時鑑定出九個重要病媒蚊種。圖/國立中興大學
幾種重要病媒的常見蚊種,如埃及斑蚊、白線斑蚊、家蚊的成蟲鑑定雖不難,但這些小小的病媒蚊,在捕捉過程常有鱗片脫落導致鑑定不易的情形產生,若採到的是孑孓幼蟲,則更難明確鑑定物種。分類學領域的鑑定工作上,多仰賴專家學者或訓練有素的專業人員,一隻隻的鑑定;此一開發的 DNA 晶片鑑定系統,完全打破此一傳統鑑定模式,可同時篩檢大量鑑定多個蚊種。
三斑家蚊雌。圖/By 周明勳
葉文斌表示,近十年來已有各種 DNA 分子鑑定方法受到肯定,並應用在各類生物的調查或檢驗上,但這些方法多僅應用在單一物種或幾個物種的鑑定。生物晶片檢測,已廣泛應用在科學研究上,但可同時鑑定多種昆蟲的晶片則罕有人提出。此研究進行 9 個重要病媒蚊種的生物晶片開發,設計各物種專一性探針點佈在晶片上,除實驗室飼養樣品可有效測試外,自全省各地採得的樣本也可明確辨識;此外,DNA 鑑定晶片不僅可進行成蟲的測試,也適用於幼蟲及卵。
但當時第一次世界大戰的主要參戰國家,如德、英、法、美等國為了避免影響士氣,嚴格管制媒體報導疫情。然而保持中立而未參戰的西班牙,因為沒有實施戰時審查制度,西班牙媒體自由報導著流感相關新聞,甚至連西班牙國王阿方索十三世(King Alfonso XIII)感染重症的消息也被廣泛報導,造成西班牙疫情特別嚴重的錯覺,也因此被命名為「西班牙流感」。
病毒外殼上還零星分布M2離子通道蛋白(M2 ion channel protein),但數量非常少,平均每100至200個HA,才有一個M2。套膜下則有M1基質蛋白(matrix protein M1)支撐病毒結構,維持病毒穩定。B型流感病毒的整體結構和A型非常類似,只是膜蛋白組成略有不同,除了HA和NA之外,另有兩種B型流感獨有的NB和BM2蛋白。至於C型流感病毒,外型就和A、B型明顯不同,它們在感染細胞表面時,能形成長達數百微米的「繩索狀結構」。
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Yoshida, A., Uekusa, Y., Suzuki, T., Bauer, M., Sakai, N., & Yamauchi, Y. (2025). Enhanced visualization of influenza A virus entry into living cells using virus-view atomic force microscopy. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 122(38), e2500660122.
COVID-19 is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever,[7] fatigue, cough, breathing difficulties, loss of smell, and loss of taste.[8][9][10] Symptoms may begin one to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. At least a third of people who are infected do not develop noticeable symptoms.[11][12] Of those who develop symptoms noticeable enough to be classified as patients, most (81%) develop mild to moderate symptoms (up to mild pneumonia), while 14% develop severe symptoms (dyspnea, hypoxia, or more than 50% lung involvement on imaging), and 5% develop critical symptoms (respiratory failure, shock, or multiorgan dysfunction).[13] Older people have a higher risk of developing severe symptoms. Some complications result in death. Some people continue to experience a range of effects (long COVID) for months or years after infection, and damage to organs has been observed.[14] Multi-year studies on the long-term effects are ongoing.[15]
COVID‑19 transmission occurs when infectious particles are breathed in or come into contact with the eyes, nose, or mouth. The risk is highest when people are in close proximity, but small airborne particles containing the virus can remain suspended in the air and travel over longer distances, particularly indoors. Transmission can also occur when people touch their eyes, nose, or mouth after touching surfaces or objects that have been contaminated by the virus. People remain contagious for up to 20 days and can spread the virus even if they do not develop symptoms.[16]
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Testing methods for COVID-19 to detect the virus’s nucleic acid include real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‑PCR),[17][18] transcription-mediated amplification,[17][18][19] and reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT‑LAMP)[17][18] from a nasopharyngeal swab.[20]
Several COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and distributed in various countries, many of which have initiated mass vaccination campaigns. Other preventive measures include physical or social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, use of face masks or coverings in public, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. While drugs have been developed to inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is still symptomatic, managing the disease through supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.