VOA标准英语2012--New Book Blames Colonization for Spread of AIDS in Africa

 

New Book Blames Colonization¹ for Spread of AIDS in Africa

For European colonizers, Africa’s forests held the promise of untold² riches – ivory, rubber and minerals. But unknown to the fortune seekers, those forests also held a virus that would claim over 30 million lives since the global spread of the HIV epidemic³.

Craig Timberg and Dr. Daniel Halperin say European rule in Africa led to a number of social and economic changes that facilitated the spread of the virus. They're the authors of a new book on the origins of rearch of virus called Tinderbox: How the West Sparked the AIDS Epidemic and How the World Can Finally Overcome It.

Halperin is a medical anthropologist⁴ and epidemiologist at the University of North Carolina and until recently the Harvard School of Public Health. He also worked in AIDS-prevention programs in Africa under the administration of President George W. Bush.

The search for the virus

Timberg and Halperin write that genetic⁵ researchers have traced the origins of human immune deficiency virus (HIV) to the jungles of southeastern Cameroon.

Timberg, who is the former Johannesburg bureau chief for The Washington Post, said researchers compared the most prevalent and deadliest form of HIV to SIV, simian⁶ immune-deficiency virus, found in local chimpanzees. 

He described their efforts at a recent lecture at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.

"They set up collection stations across the range of where these chimps⁸ were in southern Cameroon and collected their waste," he explained.

"Chimp⁷ feces carried remnants of the virus, and they could compare the particular chimpanzee viruses to the dominant⁹ form of HIV," he said. "What they found [are areas where the viruses] are close at the genetic level, particularly in the southeastern corner [of Cameroon]. You almost can’t tell the chimp virus and dominant human virus from one another, they are so almost perfectly¹⁰ identical."

Timberg said even today, not many people live in southeastern Cameroon, an area with its dense¹¹ jungles that's difficult to access. Through much of history, he said, there weren’t many opportunities for humans and chimps to interact.

Economic, cultural changes

That changed with the arrival of railways, roads and steamships¹². They carried goods from trading stations along Africa’s most powerful river, the Congo, and its tributaries¹³ reaching into the rainforests.

"African men and women became laborers¹⁵, carrying goods back and forth¹⁶ from the jungles to pay colonial taxes," said Timberg. "Others were forced to work as porters. Local communities then, as today, killed chimps to sell as “bush meat.” 

Scientists say it’s likely the virus made the leap to humans when a hunter cut himself while handling an infected animal. New transportation routes meant the hunter and the virus were no longer confined to a remote and sparsely¹⁷ populated area, where both were likely to eventually die.

"There is an old porter path that’s now a highway... a dirt road today, that came within about a mile of where the scientists collected the chimp waste that’s had the virus that’s virtually identical to the version of HIV that’s killed almost everybody who’s died of AIDS," explained Timberg,

Other elements were added to the “tinderbox” that would make a once-localized illness combust.

Changing customs made it easier to spread the virus. The colonial powers discouraged polygamy, which medical anthropologists say tended to create what they call a “closed circuit” that tended to limit sex to married partners. By contrast, younger generations under the influence of Christianity may have married a single partner, but also had ongoing¹⁸ relationships with others. 

Younger men also were less likely to participate in initiation¹⁹ rituals including circumcision, a widespread tradition in much of Africa that scientists have found largely protects men from HIV. The practice removes the foreskin of the penis, a vulnerable point of entry for the virus.

A growing urban population led to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs, in densely²⁰ populated Leopoldville, now Kinshasa.

"The historical record is clear," said Timberg. "You have an explosion of STDs, things that were not a major problem before the Europeans arrived. Suddenly they are at epidemic levels."

"The Belgian colonialists are actually complaining to each other, asking why are birth rates plummeting²¹, how [they can] make a colonial economic machine without labor¹⁴ for from high birth rates," he said. "They thought it had to do with polygamy. But it had to do with STDs – the women were sick. What we now know is that HIV was one of the STDs moving about in that part of the world at a low level but in a persistent²² way for decades."

Timberg said with modern rail, ship and airlines, it was only a matter of time before the virus became widespread. Different subtypes moved toward East Africa and to Southern Africa. One made the leap across the Atlantic Ocean.

The leap to New World

Today, he said, scientists believe the introduction of the virus to the Americas probably happened in the 1960s and 1970s, through Haiti.

At the same time as Congolese independence, thousands of Haitians were fleeing the dictatorship of Francois “Papa Doc” Duvalier. Some were officially encouraged to take part in a U.N.-sponsored program recruiting francophone professionals to serve in Congo, which lacked sufficient university-educated civil servants and civic²³ leaders.

"The U.N. brings in French-speaking ex-patriots from Haiti and other countries as nurses, doctors, teachers and technocrats²⁴, " said Timberg. "It looks very much as though one of them contracts HIV in Kinshasa, flies back to Haiti and every single strain of HIV they now contract in Europe or the Americas can be traced back to that single original infection in Haiti."

Five years ago, a group of international scientists at the Fourteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Los Angeles confirmed this theory. They presented their conclusions based on genetic analysis of HIV samples. They said the strain found in Haiti had probably been brought from Africa in 1966. 

Haiti was also center of blood donations shipped to the U.S. to make products for hemophiliacs. And, it was a popular holiday destination for gay men from North America. It’s thought they probably facilitated the spread of the disease in the U.S. and Europe through anal sex.

Disproved allegations

Scientific research has disproved other theories of the origins of HIV, including the idea that it was spread mainly by mass inoculations for polio in the 1950s, in part through unclean syringes. Timberg says the parts of Africa where the inoculations were performed do not have especially high rates of HIV infection. This is in contrast to areas with low circumcision rates, which do.

Others say HIV was created by Western intelligence agencies or began in the gay community in San Francisco in the 1970s. But tissue and blood samples kept by medical officials in Congo have been found to contain the virus in or around Kinshasa as early as 1959. And, recent research puts the birth of the virus in the forests of Cameroon to about a century ago.

A few years ago, University of Arizona epidemiologist Michael Worobey traced HIV to the beginning of the 20th century. He created a genetic family tree for the virus by comparing two 50-year-old lab samples found in the Congolese capital. Timberg explains they had similar genetic structures, linking them to a common ancestor.

"For quite some years, there has been a piece of historical virus from 1959 Kinshasa [Leopoldville] in some old blood samples. What Michael Worobey did," explained Timberg, "was dig up a second piece of historic virus from the biopsy of lymph nodes of a woman living in Kinshasa in 1960."

"Once you had two pieces of virus that old in the same basic time frame, you can then determine if they are very similar or not," said Timberg. "He determined²⁵ they were dissimilar enough that they could not be from [a recent] ancestor: in fact, to get the mutations they could see in the genome, it had to have been many decades earlier. The time frame he put together from his research was from sometime between 1884 and 1924 [for] a common ancestor, a common virus, in the Congo River Basin that was the grandfather of all of this."

Understanding the origins of the virus and the environment in which it developed, say the authors, is essential to improving efforts to fight the epidemic. They say the effects of colonialism can still be felt today – in solutions to the epidemic in Africa devised largely by the West.

They say curbing²⁶ the spread of HIV on the continent should not rely solely²⁷ on large sums of money and the latest biomedical tools. The effort must also include an understanding of cultural subtleties²⁸ and behaviors that can mean the success or failure of the war against the disease.

1 colonization   

殖民地的开拓，殖民，殖民地化； 移殖

参考例句：

• Colonization took place during the Habsburg dynasty. 开拓殖民地在哈布斯堡王朝就进行过。
• These countries took part in the colonization of Africa. 这些国家参与非洲殖民地的开发。

2 untold   

adj.数不清的，无数的

参考例句：

• She has done untold damage to our chances.她给我们的机遇造成了不可估量的损害。
• They suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.他们遭受着黑暗中的难以言传的种种恐怖，因而只好挤在一堆互相壮胆。

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 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

5 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

6 simian   

adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴

参考例句：

• Ada had a wrinkled,simian face.埃达有一张布满皱纹、长得像猿猴的脸。
• Curiosity is the taproot of an intellectual life,the most valuable of our simian traits.好奇是高智生命的根源，也是我们类人猿特征中最有价值的部分。

7 chimp   

n.黑猩猩

参考例句：

• In fact,the color of gorilla and chimp are light-color.其实大猩猩和黑猩猩的肤色是较为浅的。
• The chimp is the champ.猩猩是冠军。

8 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

9 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。

10 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

11 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

12 steamships   

n.汽船，大轮船( steamship的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Berths on steamships can be booked a long while in advance. 轮船上的床位可以提前多日预订。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The sailing ships were superseded by the steamships. 帆船已被汽船所取代。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

13 tributaries   

n. 支流

参考例句：

• In such areas small tributaries or gullies will not show. 在这些地区，小的支流和冲沟显示不出来。
• These tributaries are subsequent streams which erode strike valley. 这些支流系即为蚀出走向谷的次生河。

14 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

15 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

16 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

17 sparsely   

adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地

参考例句：

• Relative to the size, the city is sparsely populated. 与其面积相比，这个城市的人口是稀少的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The ground was sparsely covered with grass. 地面上稀疏地覆盖草丛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

19 initiation   

n.开始

参考例句：

• her initiation into the world of marketing 她的初次涉足营销界
• It was my initiation into the world of high fashion. 这是我初次涉足高级时装界。

20 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

21 plummeting   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Prices are rising, falling, going up, going down, shooting up, plummeting, etc. 物价在上涨、下跌、上升、下落、猛然上涨、骤然下跌等。 来自辞典例句
• The enemy plane went plummeting into the sea. 敌机直直掉进海里。 来自辞典例句

22 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。

23 civic   

adj.城市的，都市的，市民的，公民的

参考例句：

• I feel it is my civic duty to vote.我认为投票选举是我作为公民的义务。
• The civic leaders helped to forward the project.市政府领导者协助促进工程的进展。

24 technocrats   

n.技术专家，专家政治论者( technocrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Few business barons remained. They were replaced by "technocrats," who became the heads of corporations. 企业巨头所剩无几，大多已被“技术专家”所代替，这些人成了公司的领导。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• However, bankers called the technocrats' bluff and proceeded to lend with gusto. 但是，银行家们称技术专家官员不过在虚张声势，并且还会乐观的继续借贷业务。 来自互联网

25 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

26 curbing   

n.边石，边石的材料v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
• A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。

27 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

28 subtleties   

细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等

参考例句：

• I think the translator missed some of the subtleties of the original. 我认为译者漏掉了原著中一些微妙之处。
• They are uneducated in the financial subtleties of credit transfer. 他们缺乏有关信用转让在金融方面微妙作用的知识。