Chinese and international health officials say they are working closely to combat a severe form of an intestinal virus that has already killed 28 children and infected thousands more.
中国和国际卫生官员说，他们正密切合作抗击一种严重的肠道病毒，这种病毒已导致二十八名儿童死亡，还让数以千计的人受到感染。
Two more children were reported dead Wednesday, one in the central province, Hunan, and the other in the southwest region, Guangxi.
星期三有报导说又有两名儿童病亡，一人是在中部河南省，另一人在南部的广西省。
Both children tested positive for enterovirus 71. The virus causes a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease, which can lead to paralysis, brain swelling and even death.
这两名儿童在肠道病毒71型化验中都呈阳性反应。这种病毒导致手、足和口腔的严重疾患， 并可能造成瘫痪、脑部肿胀甚至死亡。
Health officials across the country must now report all cases of the disease to central authorities. State-run Xinhua News Agency says the reporting requirement has caused the enumeration of people in China infected with hand, foot and mouth disease to jump to near 16,000.
全国各地的卫生工作人员如今必需向中央汇报疫情。新华社说，这一汇报要求使得全中国患手足口病的患者计数跃升到近一万六千人。
The World Health Organization's China representative, Hans Troedsson, says EV-71 is causing less severe problems in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. He says it is not unusual for thousands of children each year to be infected with what he says is normally a benign and mild disease.
世界卫生组织的驻华代表韩卓升说EV-71型肠道病毒在新加坡、马来西亚和越南造成的问题比较不那么严重。他说，每年有数以千计的儿童患这类病症，而通常都是温和不致命的。他说：
"It could be unpleasant for the child because it has blisters, and blisters in the mouth, and so on, that could hurt," he noted. "But usually, it's self-limiting within 10 days."
“这种病对孩子说来很难受，有泡疹，而且还在口腔等部位，会觉得疼痛。但是通常十天内就会痊愈。”
Most of the EV-71 cases in China have been centered around Fuyang, in central Anhui Province. Troedsson says he believes doctors at first did not know what they were dealing with, because patients were displaying symptoms not typical for hand, foot and mouth disease.
在中国，EV-71型病例多半集中在安徽中部的阜阳。韩卓升说，他相信医生起先不知道这是什么病症，因为病人没有手足口病的明显症状。他说：
"And, when the clinicians tried to diagnose it, they looked for other causes that could be severe, including avian influenza and SARS and so on, which was all negative," he explained. "Just later, they could identify that this was actually enterovirus 71 and it was reported to the WHO."
“当诊所的医务人员试图作诊断时，他们寻找其他可能相当严重的病因，如禽流感和萨斯病等，但是检测结果都是阴性。在一段时间后他们才鉴定这是肠道病毒71型，然后才向世卫组织报告。”
The World Health Organization representative spoke at a joint news conference Wednesday with the spokesman for China's Ministry of Health, Mao Qun'an.
这位世卫组织代表星期三和中国卫生部发言人毛群安举行联合记者会，并在会上讲了话，毛群安在会上说：
"I was told by the experts that some fatal cases occurred because of the late response time. That is, they were sent to the hospital too late. So, this increased the difficulty to treat them," he said.
“根据刚才介绍在一些病例中这些孩子由于就诊时间比较晚，所以可能对临床救治来说增加了一定的困难。”
The official China Daily newspaper reports the Anhui government has punished 10 doctors in relation to the outbreak.
中国官方英文报刊中国日报报导，安徽政府已经惩戒了与这次疫症爆发有关的十名医生。
In one of the cases, two doctors were given demerits for delaying the transfer of a patient with a fever to a larger hospital. In another, a doctor was fined for giving 17 children an injection he claimed could prevent EV-71, although there is no vaccine for the virus.
其中有两名医生由于延误发烧病人转到大医院去治疗而被记过。另有一名医生由于给十七名儿童注射他所谓的EV -71 型预防针，而被处以罚款。因为根本不存在这种病毒的疫苗。
And, despite the current attention, the Health Ministry's Mao says that this is not the first time China has experienced problems with this illness. He said incomplete data from last year show 80,000 cases of hand, foot and mouth disease, including 17 cases that were fatal.
卫生部发言人毛群安说，尽管目前对这种疾病的关注，但是这并非中国第一次经历这一疾患的问题。他说，去年的不完整资料显示有八万个手足口病的病例。其中包括十七个致命病例。 |