flesh-eating

リオ五輪開幕まで, あと少しとなりました。水上競技が行われるグアナバラ湾では, 水質汚染による細菌感染が懸念されています。

German sailors downplay Rio water health risk

Reuters
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) — German Olympic sailors, one of whom was infected last year by a flesh-eating bacteria after a test run in Rio de Janeiro’s sewage-tainted Guanabara Bay, said this week they are less worried about health risks than racing effectively in shifty winds and wild currents while avoiding floating debris.

Three weeks before the start of racing at the Rio Olympics, three top medal prospects from the highly ranked German sailing team told Reuters on Tuesday that plastic bags and bottles, floating logs, the occasional dead dog and other flotsam will make what is already one of the most challenging Olympic sailing venues even harder.

The sailors said those factors will affect their performance on the “playground,” as the Germans call the race course, more than the presence of disease-causing pathogens at Rio water-sports venues, the focus of much pre-Olympic concern.

“I think we do not care too much about the health issues,” said Erik Heil, skipper of Germany’s Olympic entry into the 49er two-man skiff class.

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003078068

本日取り上げる表現は “flesh-eating” です。

『新英和大辞典』(第五版, 研究社)を調べると, 「肉食性の(carnivorous)」とありました。Oxford-Dictionaries.com には “(of a disease or microorganism) destructive to body tissue” と定義されています。

つまり, 今回の “flesh-eating bacteria” は, 人体の組織にダメージを与えるバクテリアを表していることがわかります。

“flesh-eating” は, 体の細胞を壊死させる病原体や微生物だけでなく, 肉食性の動植物やゾンビのような人喰い怪物を指す場合にも用いられるようです。(Cayu)