研究发明治疗抗药性头虱新方法

Study: Head Lice Growing Resistant¹ to Existing Treatments 研究发明治疗抗药性头虱新方法

In the United States, many children are returning to school after a nearly three-month summer break from classes. With the start of school, health officials are warning children and their parents about a new kind of head lice.

Being infected with head lice can cause a child to miss classes. The insects are difficult to kill. They can also cause discomfort² in the child, who may try to remove them from the skin.

A new study suggests that lice populations in at least half of the 50 states have become resistant to the chemical pyrethroid. The substance has been used for years in products to kill the insects.

Seventeen-year old Ben Kupferman of California just returned home from a summer camp. He brought some unwanted visitors with him.

“I was just scratching my head and one of the, the lice just came out. It was a, just on my finger, crawling³ around.”

The Centers for Disease⁴ Control and Prevention says lice spread to anywhere between six to 12-million children in the United States every year. All these boys and girls are between three and 11-years old.

In the past, parents bought a chemical product at a store and put it on their child’s head. It usually killed the lice within a few days. But experts say the product is not as effective as it once was because the insects have developed tolerance⁵ and even resistance⁶ to it.

Angela Baker⁷ is a doctor at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

“Certain ones (lice) have the potential to mutate and protect themselves against whatever we’re using to try to kill them.”

David Gaines is a public health entomologist in the state of Virginia. He says lice have been developing resistance to chemical treatments for some time. 

“This has probably been coming for many, many years. There’s reports of insecticide-resistant lice going back decades.”

When traditional treatments don’t work, doctors prescribe⁸ stronger drugs. But some parents object to using strong chemicals on their children. They instead want to use a more natural treatment.

Beverly Mann joined with other parents to create a lice-treatment business. Their company uses products that do not have strong chemicals in them.

“Well, we use an all-natural treatment oil and we do give (a) guarantee with our services. So it, it is pesticide-free. We do the combing, we do the picking, so the parent at home doesn’t have to.”

Gerry Wolburg launched⁹ a lice-removal business three years ago when he found lice on his daughter’s head. He uses heat to kill lice eggs.

“It desiccates the, the lice with hot air, and if you leave eggs in the hair they’re desiccated -- that means they’re, they’re shriveled up. They’re dried (up) and we like to point out that it’s like leaving a boiled egg in a hen-house -- it’s not gonna, it’s not gonna hatch¹⁰.”

Lice do not carry diseases¹¹. But they are troubling, difficult to kill and can make the child feel bad. And they can keep children from attending school for a few days.

Words in This Story

lice – n. a small insect that lives on the bodies of people or animals

crawl(ing) – v. to move slowly

tolerance – n. a body’s ability to become adjusted to something (such as a drug) so that its effects are experienced¹² less strongly

mutate – v. to change and cause an unusual characteristic or quality to develop in a plant or animal

entomologist – n. a scientist who studies insects

insecticide – n. a chemical substance that is used to kill insects

decade – n. a period of ten years

prescribe – v. to officially tell someone to use (a medicine, therapy¹³ or diet) as a treatment

comb – v. to smooth or separate (hair or fibers) with a comb

pick – v. to remove unwanted material from (something) by using your finger or a small tool

desiccate – v. very dry; having the water removed

 

shrivel – v. to cause (something) to become dry

1 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

2 discomfort   

n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便

参考例句：

• One has to bear a little discomfort while travelling.旅行中总要忍受一点不便。
• She turned red with discomfort when the teacher spoke.老师讲话时她不好意思地红着脸。

3 crawling   

n.表面涂布不均v.爬( crawl的现在分词 )；（昆虫）爬行；缓慢行进；巴结

参考例句：

• You should be ashamed of yourself, crawling to the director like that. 你那样巴结董事，应该感到羞耻。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Stubborn, self-confident Guo Zhenshan has never gone crawling to anyone. 坚强、自信、有气魄的郭振山，实在说，永远也不会向人低三下四啊！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

5 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

6 resistance   

n.抵抗力，反抗，反抗行动；阻力，电阻；反对；adj.抵抗的

参考例句：

• Very little resistance was put up by the enemy.敌人没怎么进行抵抗。
• An aircraft has to overcome the resistance of the air.飞机须克服空气的阻力。

7 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

8 prescribe   

vi.规定，开药方；vt.规定，命令，开处方

参考例句：

• The doctor prepared to prescribe a receipt.医生准备开个药方。
• Can't you just prescribe some of those diet pills,doctor?你不能开一些减肥药吗，医生？

9 launched   

v.发射( launch的过去式和过去分词 )；[计算机]开始（应用程序）；发动；开展（活动、计划等）

参考例句：

• He launched a bitter diatribe against the younger generation. 他对年轻一代发起了猛烈的抨击。
• The product was launched amid much fanfare worldwide. 这个产品在世界各地隆重推出。

10 hatch   

n.孵化，舱口；vt.孵，孵出，策划；vi. 孵化

参考例句：

• No one knows how the new plan will hatch out.谁也不知道这新方案将怎样制订出来。
• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。

11 diseases   

n.疾病( disease的名词复数 )；弊端；恶疾；痼疾

参考例句：

• Smoking is a causative factor in several major diseases. 抽烟是引起几种严重疾病的病因。
• The illness frequently coexists with other chronic diseases. 这种病往往与其他慢性病同时存在。

12 experienced   

adj.有经验的；经验丰富的，熟练的

参考例句：

• Experienced seamen will advise you about sailing in this weather.有经验的海员会告诉你在这种天气下的航行情况。
• Perhaps you and I had better change over;you are more experienced.也许我们的工作还是对换一下好，你比我更有经验。

13 therapy   

n.治疗；疗法

参考例句：

• The doctor said she should be given a physical therapy.医生说她应该进行理疗。
• She will need to have the therapy repeated every few months.她将需要每隔几个月就进行一次治疗。