VOA常速英语2015--智能手机成为疟疾诊断工具

Smartphones Becoming Tools for Diagnosing Malaria 1 智能手机成为疟疾诊断工具

Doctors fighting malaria - one of the deadliest diseases on the planet - may soon have a new affordable 2 weapon in their smart phones.  Researchers have found a way to use the phone’s camera to detect the microorganism in the patient's blood that causes the disease.

According to the World Health Organization, almost 600,000 people died of malaria in 2013, making this mosquito-borne disease one of the deadliest in the world.

世界卫生组织表示2013年近600,000人死于疟疾,这种借由蚊子传播的疾病一跃成为全世界其中一位最致命的杀手。

The saddest aspect of this calamity 3 is that it affects mostly young children.

而这场疾病灾难最令人悲痛的一方面是它主要影响儿童。

Early detection of the infection is important for successful treatment.  But since the first symptoms resemble ordinary flu, a microbiologist must look at a drop of a patient’s blood under a microscope for a proper diagnosis 4.

感染的早期发现对成功治疗至关重要。但因为首发症状类似普通流感,因此微生物学家必须通过观察显微镜下病人的血液才能进行正确诊断。

Scientists in Britain have now developed a smart phone attachment 5 called Xrapid, that turns the phone into a 200-power microscope, while the attached app - based on facial recognition software - quickly detects the parasitic 6 protozoa in the blood smear 7.

而英国科学家们已经研发出一种名为Xrapid的智能手机附件，它会将手机变成分辨力200的显微镜,而基于面部识别软件的应用附件能够快速检测血涂片上的寄生原生物。

Jean Viry-Babel is the CEO of IanXen, the company that developed the app.  He says it is cheap and works on the spot.

研发这款应用程序的IanXen公司首席执行官琼·威里贝尔表示这款应用非常便宜而且马上就可以得到结果。

“So we take a high-definition picture of a sample of blood. We separate the red blood cells from the rest - the white blood cells, the platelets - and we start looking at each of the red blood cells individually," said Viry-Babel.

“所以我们采集的是血液样本的高清图片。我们将红细胞从白细胞,血小板中分离,而后我们开始观察每个个体红细胞。”

Viry-Babel says the app is affordable, easy to use and provides reliability 8 of up to 98 percent.  The only additional equipment required is an ordinary glass lab slide - called a "slate 9."

威里贝尔表示这款软件人们能够负担得起,易于使用而且可信度高达98%。唯一额外需要的设备就是一块被称为面板的普通玻璃室玻片。

“There's only one button, which is called "Diagnose". So you put it on the slate and you put it on the dried blood, and you press diagnose and it tells you yes or no," he said.

“只有一个名为诊断的按钮。所以你把它放在面板上,放在干血上然后你按诊断它就会告诉你“是”或“不是”。

Researchers say the field-testing of the device will begin in January and February in Tanzania, Benin and Indonesia - while commercial use is scheduled to start by the end of March.

研究人员表示这种装置的实地试验将于1月和2月在坦桑尼亚,贝宁和印度尼西亚地区开始，而3月底将投入商业用途。

They also plan to expand the versatility 10 of the new device - teaching it to recognize other diseases, such as tuberculosis 11 and Lyme Disease.

他们还计划扩大这种新设备的多功能性，比如识别如肺结核和莱姆病的其他疾病。