警惕!高传染性!已造数百万人染疾!医疗耗资数十亿!

AS IT IS 2016-04-29 Highly Contagious¹ Virus Sickens Millions, Costs Billions 警惕!高传染性!已造数百万人染疾!医疗耗资数十亿!

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report.

Everyone knows about the flu and the common cold. But what about norovirus?

If you have never heard of norovirus, you are not alone. Most people haven’t.

The fact that people do not know its name does not mean it is rare. The virus is actually very common. Norovirus infects 700 million people each year, mainly in the developed world.

This video from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention further explains the norovirus.

The virus is a very aggressive intestinal² illness. It causes nausea³, vomiting⁴ and the worst diarrhea most people have ever had. It is also a killer⁵. More than 200,000 people a year die from this virus.

Medical costs linked to norovirus can be as high as $60 billion dollars a year. These costs include lost productivity at work because of personal illness or caring for a sick child. Because of this high price tag, health experts say norovirus is worth researching.

Bruce Lee is a professor of international health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Lee and his colleagues estimated the cost of the illness in 233 countries, regions and territories around the world. He says norovirus is responsible for about 50 percent of all stomach and intestinal illnesses in those regions.

Lee and other researchers report their estimates in the journal PLoS One. Their calculations are thought to be the first regarding the global impact of norovirus.

Lee says that he and his team wanted to quantify -- or put into numbers -- and characterize the impact of the norovirus.

"We were interested in quantifying or better characterizing the impact of norovirus because it's something that you've heard of but if you think about it, you're not really sure what the impact, how often does it occur, how widespread is it."

In fact, Lee says, the actual number of people who get sick with norovirus may be much greater. Many people, he says, may just think they have a stomach bug⁶ when they actually have norovirus. A stomach bug is an informal way to describe something such as a germ that causes intestinal illness.

Again, here is Bruce Lee.

"So people may suffer with the symptoms and they think, 'well, I've got a stomach bug', quote-unquote, and 'I've got some food poisoning' and they never really report it or get diagnosed."

Lee hopes greater awareness⁷ will lead to control measures. These measures include washing hands and disinfecting food preparation areas. He adds that there is another important factor to consider: sick workers who still go to work.

When a worker is sick, he says, they often feel obligated to still go to work. This is especially true for people in food service jobs who may lose wages if they miss work. Sick people working around food can contaminate, or spread viruses to, many people. Sick workers instead, he says, should be encouraged to stay home.

"Many times, people who work in restaurants or the food preparation industry feel obligated to show up to work even though they’re sick, because many folks are on wages and they can't afford to miss a day, even a day. And so, they'll come in sick and then they'll end up contaminating food and spread it to many other people."

There is currently no vaccine⁸ for norovirus. However, Lee says there are experimental vaccines⁹ under development. He says he hopes will one day a vaccine will help contain the spread of the virus.

Words in This Story

rare – adj. seldom occurring or found

intestinal – adj. affecting, occurring, or living in the intestine¹⁰ : of, relating to, or being the intestine

quantify – v. to find or calculate the quantity or amount of (something)

characterize – v. to describe the character or special qualities of (someone or something)

impact – n. to have a strong and often bad effect on (something or someone)

widespread – adj. common over a wide area or among many people

obligated – v. to make (a person or organization) do something because the law requires it or because it is the right thing to do

contaminate – v. to make (something) dangerous, dirty, or impure by adding something harmful or undesirable to it

1 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

2 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

3 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

4 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

5 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

6 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。

7 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• 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。

9 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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。

10 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。