美国国家公共电台 NPR Why Chinese Scientists Are More Worried Than Ever About Bird Flu

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now to China, where a strain of bird flu has killed a record number of people this year. Scientists on the frontlines of this deadly strain are more worried than ever about its potential to spur a global pandemic. NPR's Rob Schmitz has this story.

ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE¹: At a research lab on top of a forested hill overlooking Hong Kong, scientists are growing viruses.

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SCHMITZ: They drill tiny holes into an egg. Next, they'll inoculate² it with avian influenza³ to observe how the virus behaves. This lab at Hong Kong University is at the world's forefront of our understanding of H7N9. It's a deadly strain of the bird flu that's killed more people this season - 162 - than when it was first discovered in humans four years ago. That worries lab director Guan Yi. But what disturbs him more is how fast this strain is evolving.

GUAN YI: (Through interpreter) We're trying our best, but we still can't control this virus. It's too late.

SCHMITZ: Guan is one of the world's leading virologists. His work on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome⁴, or SARS, in 2003 helped China's government control the virus that had killed hundreds, avoiding a second outbreak. He's now moved on to avian influenza.

His lab is full of tissue samples from chickens, ducks and humans, all who have died from H7N9. The samples arrived from a network of scientists who purchase birds at live poultry⁵ markets throughout southern China. Back in December, Guan and his colleague Zhu Huachen began noticing something strange.

ZHU HUACHEN: Some of the birds, if they look severely⁶ sick, then we purchase the birds. And then they would die within a day.

SCHMITZ: They were chickens infected with H7N9. That was strange because chickens normally could live with the virus in what's known as a low pathogenic state. Guan and his team discovered the H7N9 strain had now mutated into a new lethal⁷ form inside of chickens.

GUAN: (Through interpreter) Ten years ago, H7N9 was less lethal. Now it's become deadlier. Before, it barely affected⁸ chickens. Now many are dying. Our research shows it can kill all the chickens in our lab within 24 hours. If this latest mutation⁹ isn't stopped, more will die.

SCHMITZ: Which could be very bad news for the global poultry industry. What worries Guan more is H7N9 has proven an ability to mutate quickly. And in the rare cases when humans catch it, more than a third of them die. He fears a future mutation might make the virus more transmissible between humans.

GUAN: (Through interpreter) Based on my 20 years of studying H7N9, the virus itself as well as how the government handles it, I'm pessimistic. I think this virus poses the greatest threat to humanity than any other in the past 100 years.

SCHMITZ: Guan's choice of 100 years is deliberate.

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UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: For this day, November 11, 1918, marks the end of an era of hate and bloodshed and violence.

SCHMITZ: A newsreel from a Victory Day parade after World War I allows only a brief passing reference to what was called the Spanish flu.

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UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: Grotesque¹⁰ and ugly in their influenza masks, the people of San Francisco celebrate.

SCHMITZ: As the war drew to a close, the global pandemic killed between 20 and 50 million people, all dead from a flu that originated in birds.

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UNIDENTIFIED JOURNALIST: And so San Francisco celebrates in 1918 because the war is over, and there will never be another.

SCHMITZ: In the century since, there have been more wars. And Dr. Guan Yi says it's not a stretch to envision another global pandemic.

GUAN: (Through interpreter) Today, science is more advanced. We have vaccines¹¹. And it's easy to diagnose. On the other hand, it now takes hours to spread new viruses all over the world.

SCHMITZ: Many of these viruses are first discovered in China, a country with scores of small poultry farms run by farmers who aren't well educated about the threat of bird flu and who often hide evidence of infected birds to protect their bottom line.

GUAN: (Through interpreter) Farmers are scared of losing money. I know how they think. I'm from a rural part of China, and that's why I'm not optimistic about this.

SCHMITZ: The real test, of course, is how transmissible a future mutation of the flu is between humans. But when it comes to poultry, Guan says there are some encouraging signs. Big cities like Shanghai have quickly shut down their live poultry markets when human cases are on the rise.

But that's just China. Guan says preventing the next global pandemic will depend on how well the governments of individual countries collaborate¹² with each other. That, he says, is a different challenge altogether. Rob Schmitz, NPR News, Hong Kong.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 inoculate   

v.给...接种，给...注射疫苗

参考例句：

• A corps of doctors arrived to inoculate the recruits.一队医生来给新兵打防疫针。
• I was just meant to come out here and inoculate some wee babies.我是过来这边给小孩子们接种疫苗的。

3 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。

4 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

5 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

6 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

7 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

8 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

9 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

10 grotesque   

adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物）

参考例句：

• His face has a grotesque appearance.他的面部表情十分怪。
• Her account of the incident was a grotesque distortion of the truth.她对这件事的陈述是荒诞地歪曲了事实。

11 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

12 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。