VOA标准英语2012--Tools to Fight Infectious Diseases Rely on Public Health Programs
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十二月)
Tools to Fight Infectious Diseases Rely on Public Health Programs
A simple bite from a mosquito can end someone's life or change it forever. A sneeze, a handshake or even sharing of a desk can do the same thing. That's how H1N1 - or swine flu - spread around the world a few years ago. Infectious diseases such as malaria 1, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis 2 are among the leading causes of death globally. Diarrheal diseases like cholera 3 kill more than 100,000 people every year. Haiti and the Dominican Republic say they need $2 billion to fight the cholera epidemic 4 that first erupted in 2010. Since then, it has killed nearly 8,000 people and sickened more than half a million.
At a Washington symposium 5, leading U.S. health experts met to discuss the challenge of confronting persistent 6 and newly-emerging infectious diseases. Dr. Anthony Fauci, with the National Institutes of Health, said most of these diseases result from the fact that as human populations grow, people come into closer contact with animals.
"When you have encroachment 7 upon the environment, and you put humans in greater contact with animals that they would not have been in contact with, often that is one of, not the only, but one of the major contributors to the issue of emerging infectious diseases," said Fauci.
New threats, better tools
New infectious diseases also emerge when bacteria or viruses mutate and no longer respond to drugs that once killed them. An example is drug-resistant tuberculosis. Other factors include climate change or the expanded habitat of an infectious agent. Dengue is now found in half the countries of the world. It's caused by a bite from a mosquito infected with the virus.
While these threats are great, we now have better tools to fight these diseases, said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
"We’ve got new technology, we’ve got better communication, we’ve got better lab work, more people who are trained," he said.
This means less time elapses between the discovery of a new disease, identifying its genetic 10 makeup 11 and developing drugs or a vaccine 8 to protect against it.
"Immunization is really one of the great discoveries of the past century. Today’s vaccines prevent about three million deaths every single year. And the vaccines that are being rolled out can prevent millions more," said Frieden.
Controlling these diseases depends on the continued vigilance of public health systems throughout the world. A recent study found that weaknesses in public health infrastructure 12 are the major driving factors in infectious disease outbreaks. A case in point: the cholera outbreak in Haiti after the massive 2010 earthquake destroyed the country's ability to care for its sick.
- He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
- Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。
- People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
- Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。
- The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
- Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。
- That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
- The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。
- What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会？
- The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。
- Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
- She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。
- I resent the encroachment on my time.我讨厌别人侵占我的时间。
- The eagle broke away and defiantly continued its encroachment.此时雕挣脱开对方，继续强行入侵。
- The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
- She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。
- His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
- The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。
- It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
- Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。
- Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
- Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？
- We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
- We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。