VOA标准英语2011--New Procedure Could Get More TB Patients

New Procedure Could Get More TB Patients Treated

An international team of researchers has found that revised protocols² for diagnosing tuberculosis³ may be more user-friendly for patients and help bring more people into treatment, especially in poorer countries.
In many places around the world where tuberculosis is a major threat, suspected cases are diagnosed by looking through a microscope for the TB bacteria in sputum - the mixture of saliva⁴ and mucus that the patient coughs up.
Under current protocol¹, three specimens⁵ are collected on two consecutive⁶ days - one "on-the-spot" in the clinic, one the next morning at home, and then a third "spot" sample when the patient returns to the clinic.
But many patients don't live near a diagnosis⁷ facility, so often they come once, but don't return for the next day's tests.
Luis Cuevas of the World Health Organization and the University of Liverpool in England and colleagues tested a variation of the protocol, taking two "spot" samples in the clinic an hour apart, and a third one the next day.
"And if you use the new scheme, you end up with exactly the same result. Whether you do it one way or another, you end up with the same number of cases."
Not only that, the results from examining just the first two specimens identified most TB-positive patients. So if both specimens are collected on day one, there is a greater likelihood of an accurate diagnosis.
The studies were done in Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, and Yemen.
Researcher Cuevas says it's important to improve the process of diagnosing tuberculosis. "What we see very frequently is that accessing the diagnosis for TB is often a barrier to access treatment for TB. So, facilitating a rapid diagnosis is very key to improve access to treatment."
There are more high-tech⁸ diagnostic tests for tuberculosis, but they are as much as 15 times more expensive than microscopic⁹ examination of the sputum, so in resource-poor countries the less costly¹⁰ diagnosis procedure is likely to remain dominant¹¹.

 

1 protocol   

n.议定书，草约，会谈记录，外交礼节

参考例句：

• We must observe the correct protocol.我们必须遵守应有的礼仪。
• The statesmen signed a protocol.那些政治家签了议定书。

2 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

3 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

4 saliva   

n.唾液，口水

参考例句：

• He wiped a dribble of saliva from his chin.他擦掉了下巴上的几滴口水。
• Saliva dribbled from the baby's mouth.唾液从婴儿的嘴里流了出来。

5 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 consecutive   

adj.连续的，联贯的，始终一贯的

参考例句：

• It has rained for four consecutive days.已连续下了四天雨。
• The policy of our Party is consecutive.我党的政策始终如一。

7 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

8 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

9 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。

10 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

11 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。