2006年VOA标准英语-Nigeria Investigates Suspected Symptoms of

By Gilbert da Costa
Abuja
20 May 2006

Two unidentified farm worker walk towards birds suspected of having bird flu virus  
  

Officials in the northern Nigerian city of Kano are investigating reports of a fresh outbreak of the deadly Avian flu virus.  The report comes at a time experts are warning Nigeria not to drop its guard in the campaign against bird flu.

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Samples of dead chickens from a farm near the city of Kano in northern Nigeria have been taken to the National Veterinary Research Institute in Vom, in central Plateau state, for laboratory analysis.
 
Officials of the Kano state avian flu control committee detected the presence of Avian flu among 16,000 chickens on a farm a few days ago, a month after the area was declared free of the virus.
 
Veterinary personnel in Nigeria have criticized the government's handling of the disease.

"It is actually something that we should be worried about, because, in the last few weeks, it appears the government had actually gone to sleep, and this is not the time, with an infection like bird flu, that the government goes to sleep," explained Bala Mohammed, the secretary of the Nigerian Veterinary Association.

Officials say several farms in Nigeria still have low pathogenic cases of bird flu, and thus are susceptible¹ to a resurgence² or an epidemic³. Dr. Mohammed says evolving a more acceptable compensation package for those who lose their chickens and other fowl⁴ to disease, could be the key to eradicating⁵ bird flu in Nigeria.

"Some lost their birds to heat stress, some to Newcastle disease, some to other diseases, and claiming it is bird flu," he added.  "So, no matter what amount that had been assigned to it, we are not going to achieve what government is trying to do in terms of economic losses, somehow. But the fundamental thing in trying to get people to report the disease is not being achieved, because they felt it is token. Everybody wants to lay claim of his mortality to bird flu, and we are not going to achieve anything."

The virus has been identified in 12 states, including the largest city, Lagos, as well as around the federal capital, Abuja, since it was first confirmed in Nigeria four months ago.

So far, no human cases have been reported in Nigeria's estimated 130 million population. More than 450,000 birds have been killed as part of preventive measures.
 
International experts say Nigeria should step up its aggressive control measures to effectively contain the threat of another major bird flu outbreak.

1 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

2 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

3 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

4 fowl   

n.家禽，鸡，禽肉

参考例句：

• Fowl is not part of a traditional brunch.禽肉不是传统的早午餐的一部分。
• Since my heart attack,I've eaten more fish and fowl and less red meat.自从我患了心脏病后，我就多吃鱼肉和禽肉，少吃红色肉类。

5 eradicating   

摧毁，完全根除( eradicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Objective: To study the acute and chronic toxicity of Ten-flavor-acne eradicating-capsule. 目的：探讨复方中药合剂十味平痤胶囊的急性及慢性毒性。
• We are on the verge of eradicating polio in the world. 我们已在世界消除小儿？痹症的边缘了。