VOA标准英语2014--Carter Center Marks Progress in Fight Against Guinea Worm, River Blindness

 

Carter Center Marks Progress in Fight Against Guinea Worm, River Blindness 

CHICAGO — Guinea worm disease and river blindness are among 17 tropical diseases the World Health Organization considers neglected. Thanks to the efforts of the Atlanta-based Carter Center -- founded by former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn -- focused treatment and prevention are leading to the elimination¹ of one, and the extinction² of another.

When Carter and the Carter Center staff started working to eradicate³ Guinea Worm disease in 1986, it was found in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.

“We had three-and-a-half million cases of guinea worm, and village by village we have done away with it. Last year, we only had 146 cases in the whole world,” he said.

Most of the remaining infections by the parasitic⁴ worm are found in South Sudan, where Carter said, despite the recent unrest, the Carter Center continues working to prevent transmission of the disease by monitoring and filtering water sources.

“At this moment we have about 212 people on our payroll⁵, almost all of whom have been trained locally, and about 8,000 women who volunteer their services,” he said.

Eliminating river blindness

Elsewhere in Africa, the Carter Center has shifted its focus from controlling river blindness - another parasitic infection - to eliminating it.

While river blindness can’t be eradicated⁶ like Guinea worm, the Carter Center discovered that by modifying the dosage of the antibiotic⁷ ivermectin, the disease could be eliminated in the human body.

“If we gave two to four pills a year, then the adult worms that created the microfilaria would be eliminated. We found that out in Latin America, in six countries, we could completely do away with river blindness permanently⁸. Now we've tried that in Africa and found it to be successful again,” said Carter.

The World Health Organization reports about 18 million people worldwide suffer from river blindness, 99 percent of them in Africa.

“It can be so itchy that these patients can itch⁹ their skin so much that part of their skin goes white. And then there’s a huge stigma¹⁰ still in some parts of Africa associating some parts of skin going white with leprosy,” said Dr. Aisha Sethi, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the University of Chicago Medical Center. She said river blindness, which is the second leading cause of preventable blindness by infection, hurts both people and the economy.  

“You see the more people that are poor, and are sick, you are losing the working capacity of that country. You are losing money that families are making towards treatment of that person,” she said.

Sethi is originally from Pakistan, one of the first countries where the Carter Center eradicated Guinea Worm. As she works on a field manual about neglected tropical diseases she hopes to publish in a few years, one uncertainty¹¹ about the book is how to represent Guinea Worm.

“I don’t know if we’ll have guinea worm in there other than as a historic perspective. Maybe by the time the book comes out we might be down to zero cases,” she said.

 

Zero cases is the goal of the Carter Center and an achievement that former president Carter, who turns 90 in October, is confident he will witness in his lifetime.

1 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

2 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

3 eradicate   

v.根除，消灭，杜绝

参考例句：

• These insects are very difficult to eradicate.这些昆虫很难根除。
• They are already battling to eradicate illnesses such as malaria and tetanus.他们已经在努力消灭疟疾、破伤风等疾病。

4 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

5 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

6 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

7 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

8 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

9 itch   

n.痒，渴望，疥癣；vi.发痒，渴望

参考例句：

• Shylock has an itch for money.夏洛克渴望发财。
• He had an itch on his back.他背部发痒。

10 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。