VOA慢速英语2021--中国惊现全球首例H10N3禽流感

China has reported the world's first known human infection with a rare form of bird flu.

A 41-year-old man from Jiangsu, in eastern China, was confirmed to have H10N3, Chinese health officials reported Tuesday.

No human case of this version, or strain, has been reported anywhere else in the world. Bird flu is found in different species of wild birds.

The infected man was treated in the hospital for about a month and was expected to be released soon, the National Health Commission said in a statement.

The statement described the infection as "an accidental cross-species transmission." It added that "the risk of large-scale transmission is low."

The Health Commission did not provide details on how the man was infected.

Many different strains of bird flu are present in China and some end up infecting people, usually those working with poultry¹.

Officials said the man's contacts had been investigated and no other human cases of H10N3 were found.

Surveillance in place to watch for bird flu

The news comes as the world continues to deal with COVID-19, which scientists say likely jumped from animals to humans. COVID-19 is a form of coronavirus. But unlike with coronaviruses, there are worldwide surveillance systems in place to watch for human cases of bird flu.

The systems were established after a strain called H5N1 appeared in the late 1990s in poultry markets in Hong Kong. Between 2013 and 2017, another bird flu virus named H7N9 infected more than 1,500 people in China. That strain killed nearly 300 people. Those infected had close contact with infected chickens.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement to Reuters it remains² unknown how the patient got infected with H10N3. "No other cases were found in emergency surveillance among the local population. At this time, there is no indication of human-to-human transmission," the statement said.

The WHO added that as long as bird flu viruses are spread in poultry, human infections will be possible. The new case in China, however, should serve as a warning "that the threat of a (flu) pandemic is persistent³," the WHO said.

Filip Claes oversees⁴ the Food and Agriculture Organization's Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases for Asia and the Pacific. He told Reuters the H10N3 strain is "not a very common virus."

Only about 160 cases were reported in the 40 years to 2018, Claes said. He added that most of the cases were found in wild birds or waterfowl in Asia and some limited parts of North America. None had been discovered in chickens so far, Claes said.

Words in This Story

flu – n. short form of the term influenza⁵: a sickness that is similar to a bad cold, often causing a high temperature, tiredness and other symptoms

species – n. biology : a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants : a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus

transmit – v. to cause a virus, disease, etc. to be given to others

poultry – n. chickens and other birds that people breed for meat and eggs

surveillance – n. the act of carefully watching activities of people especially in order to control crime or the spread of disease

indicate – v. to show that something exists or is likely to be true

persistent – adj. continuing to exist for a long period of time

waterfowl – n. any bird that spends much of its life on or around water

1 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• 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。

4 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

5 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。