挖鼻孔不仅恶心,而且会造成致命疾病

Lots of parents catch their children picking their noses and tell them off for it - and that's because it's gross. Even though it may be unhygienic and can even be a bit embarrassing if your little ones decide to do it in a public place, most mums and dads think the habit is relatively harmless.

很多家长在看到孩子挖鼻孔的时候都会让他们不要这么做--因为很恶心。尽管挖鼻孔不卫生，而且如果你的小孩儿在公共场所做出此举还会让你感到尴尬，但大多数家长都认为这是一种相对无害的习惯。

But it turns out picking your nose could spread a dangerous bacteria which causes pneumonia, new research warns. Here's why and what you can do to stop it from happening. The study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, shows that the transmission of pneumonia can occur through contact between the nose and hands when exposed to the bacteria.

但新的研究警告称，挖鼻孔可能会传播导致肺炎的危险细菌。为什么不要挖鼻孔？怎样才能做到这一点？发表在《欧洲呼吸杂志》上的一篇研究表明：暴露于细菌环境中，鼻子和手之间的接触可能导致肺炎的传播。

Researchers found that the bacteria spreads at the same rate whether dry or wet condition, or whether people pick or even just rub their noses. This is scary stuff, as pneumonia is a major cause of death around the world and is estimated to be responsible for 1.3million deaths in children under five years of age.

研究员发现：无论是在干燥还是潮湿环境下，无论人们是挖鼻孔还是只是揉鼻子，细菌都会以同样的速度传播。这很可怕，因为在全世界范围内，肺炎是导致人们死亡的主要原因。据估计，130万名5岁以下的儿童因患肺炎而死亡。

Even though it's tricky to get your little ones to kick the unpleasant habit, researchers have some simple advice that may prevent the spread of the deadly bacteria. "For parents, as this research shows that hands are likely to spread pneumococcus, this may be important when children are in contact with elderly relatives or relatives with reduced immune systems," said lead researcher Dr Victoria Connor, a clinical research fellow at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Royal Liverpool Hospital.

尽管让孩子戒掉这一令人不快的习惯似乎是件很棘手的事情，但研究员给出了一些简单的建议，或能预防致命细菌的传播。"因为这项研究表明肺炎球菌可能会通过双手进行传播，所以当儿童与上了年纪的亲戚或免疫系统较弱的亲戚接触时，家长因格外留心，"首席研究员维多利亚·康纳盖尔博士说道，他是利物浦热带医学院和皇家利物浦医院（Royal Liverpool Hospital）的临床研究员。

"In these situations, ensuring good hand hygiene and cleaning of toys or surfaces would likely reduce transmission, and reduce the risk of developing pneumococcal infection such as pneumonia." So basically, keeping their hands and toys clean minimises the risk - which shouldn't be too tricky to do with some antibacterial wipes or gel.

"在这些情况下，确保双手卫生、清洁玩具或物体表面可能会减少传播、降低肺炎等肺炎球菌感染的风险。"所以，基本上来说，保持双手和玩具干净可最大限度地降低风险--只要有抗菌纸巾或抗菌免洗洗手液，就不难做到这一点。

Dr Connor also said it "might not be realistic" to get kids to stop picking and rubbing their noses completely - but the presence of the bacteria could help "boost the immune system" of children and "reduces the risk" of them getting the disease in later life.

康纳盖尔博士还表示，让孩子不再挖鼻孔或揉鼻子"可能不大现实"--但是细菌的存在或能帮助儿童"增强免疫系统"，"降低他们晚年患肺癌的风险"。