2006年VOA标准英语-Rapid Containment Key to Preventing Bird F

By Nancy-Amelia Collins
Jakarta
02 May 2006

The World Health Organization says it may be possible to prevent or delay a human bird-flu pandemic if countries immediately act to contain outbreaks.  

------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Shigeru Omi, WHO's Regional Director for Western Pacific Region at a press conference after a ceremony marking the Japan-ASEAN Initiative to Combat Pandemic Influenza¹, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 2, 2006   
  

The World Health Organization says rapid intervention² at the earliest signs of a human bird-flu outbreak may prevent hundreds of millions of infections and millions of deaths.

The WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, Shigeru Omi, says once there are signs the H5N1 bird-flu virus is spreading among people, there will only be two or three weeks to prevent or at least slow down a global pandemic.

"If some initial sign, initial indication a pandemic happen, we have to immediately pick up, detect this initial sign or signals and we have to implement³ all the necessary measures," Omi says.

Omi says those measure include giving large numbers of people anti-viral drugs, restricting travel, quarantining infected areas and closing schools.  He says all countries must be held accountable for these measures.

"There is a responsibility for countries to implement and improve the quality of surveillance and to implement these public measures such as restriction⁴ of movement if there are the signs of the pandemic starts," Omi says.

Omi made the remarks in Jakarta during a ceremony to mark $70 million in aid pledged by Japan to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to fight the H5N1 virus.

The aid includes a stockpile for Southeast Asia of half a million doses of Tamiflu, considered the best treatment for bird flu so far.

ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong says the group's 10 members last year organized themselves to better fight the spread of the bird flu virus.

"In fact, in countries like Thailand and Vietnam the work has been very strong and we believe that the preventive measures have helped us to contain the spread of the disease," Ong Keng Yong says. "So we are using lessons learned from these countries to tackle the potential threat."

The H5N1 virus is now endemic in Asia, where millions of birds have been culled⁵ across the region to halt the spread of the disease.

Since 2003, bird flu has infected more than 200 people - mostly in Asia - and killed roughly half of them.

Although most victims have caught the virus from close contact with infected birds, health experts fear the virus may mutate to a form easily passed between humans. 

1 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。

2 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

3 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

4 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

5 culled   

v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The herd must be culled. 必须有选择地杀掉部分牧畜。 来自辞典例句
• The facts were culled from various sources. 这些事实是从各方收集到的。 来自辞典例句