美国国家公共电台 NPR Federal Efforts To Control Rare And Deadly Bacteria Working

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The federal government set up a network last year to identify deadly germs called nightmare bacteria. Today the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that network is helping¹ control these germs. And the CDC says the system would be even better if more hospitals and doctors would send in suspicious samples. NPR's Richard Harris reports.

RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE²: The system focuses on bacteria that live primarily in the gut³ and that are resistant⁴ to most antibiotics⁶, especially the drugs of last resort known as carbapenems. Dr. Jason Newland, an infectious disease specialist at St. Louis Children's Hospital, says he mutters under his breath when he encounters these germs in his young patients.

JASON NEWLAND: I mean, I hate to say it, but I'm taking care of children where there hasn't been an antibiotic⁵ to use.

HARRIS: He will improvise⁷ treatments as best he can, but nationally about half of all patients who get sick as a result of these germs do die. Prevention is the best strategy. So last year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established a network of labs and public health experts to identify cases early. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's deputy director, says in the first nine months of 2017 the network flagged more than 4,300 samples containing these carbapenem-resistant bacteria, including 221 samples that are rare varieties.

ANNE SCHUCHAT: We have found a lot of these scary bacteria around the country. But we found them in ones and twos and not everywhere. And so there's a chance to keep them from becoming widespread.

HARRIS: Finding these germs, which she calls nightmare bacteria, is just the first stage of the new network.

SCHUCHAT: And then once we found them, we had staff support the facilities in a SWAT team approach to evaluate the infection control practices and to snuff out the infection.

HARRIS: The hope is that by intervening before there's a full-fledged outbreak, health officials can keep these bacteria in check. Schuchat says this is especially important because these germs can pass their resistance genes⁸ on to other types of bacteria.

SCHUCHAT: The good news is those resistance genes have not yet spread to all the other germs in the patient population. We have time to stop them from becoming common.

HARRIS: Schuchat says the effort would be stronger if more hospitals and doctors participated. Infectious disease expert Jason Newland praises the CDC effort. But he says these germs readily cross international borders, and antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in less affluent⁹ countries.

NEWLAND: So we have to be doing this not only in the U.S. but across the world because this problem is definitely worldwide.

HARRIS: Indeed, at least some of the cases in the United States were among people who had surgery overseas, Anne Schuchat says.

SCHUCHAT: And so if you have had a health care procedure outside the country, you should tell your doctor about that if you're sick.

HARRIS: Details of this new effort are published in the CDC's Morbidity¹⁰ and Mortality Weekly Report. Richard Harris, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROBERT LE MAGNIFIQUE'S "POM POM ACE")

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 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。

3 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

4 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

5 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。

6 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

7 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

8 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

9 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

10 morbidity   

n.病态；不健全；发病；发病率

参考例句：

• MC's also significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality induced by honeybee venom. 肥大细胞同样也能显著降低蜜蜂毒液诱发疾病的发病率和死亡率。 来自互联网
• The result shows that incidence of myopia morbidity is 44.84%. 结果表明：近视眼的发病率为44.84%。 来自互联网