狂犬病每年导致数万人死亡（在线收听）

狂犬病每年导致数万人死亡

Canine rabies kills tens of thousands of people every year and costs economies billions of dollars. A new global study said understanding the true burden of the disease may result in more resources to prevent it.

狂犬病每年导致成千上万人死亡，导致经济损失数十亿美元。一项最新的全球研究表明，明白这种疾病的真正负担可能会促成更多资源来预防该疾病。

Dr. Louise Taylor said while the tools exist to prevent deaths from rabies, they’re not being used in many countries hardest hit by the disease.

露易丝·泰勒博士说，尽管目前存在能预防狂犬病死亡的工具，但很多受该疾病影响最严重的国家都未能使用这些工具。

“At the moment, our best estimate from this recent study is that about 59,000 people across the world are dying of rabies every year," she said. "And that’s just the burden from canine rabies transmitted by dogs.”

“目前，我们根据最近的研究估计每年全球有大约5.9万人死于狂犬病，而这只是狗传播的狂犬病带来的负担。”

Dr. Louise Taylor is with the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and is coordinator of the Partners for Rabies Prevention Group.

露易丝·泰勒博士就职于全球狂犬病控制联盟，也是狂犬病预防组织合作伙伴组织的协调员。

“So, aside from the deaths that we have, we have problems with the income that those people could have generated. And so there’s a wider societal cost that’s impacting heavily on developing countries, particularly. And then there are all the costs in terms of the control efforts that are being put in," Taylor continued. "So although control efforts are not adequate to prevent all the deaths, they are preventing a large number of deaths. So, when we add up all those costs together this recent study has basically come out and said: a total cost of about $8.6 billion to the global economy every year.”

“除了我们掌握的死亡情况外，还有患病者产生的问题，所以这就导致了广泛的社会成本，尤其给发展中国家带来了沉重的影响，另外还有各种控制手段带来的成本。尽管控制措施不足以预防所有死亡，但确实能阻止大量死亡案例。所以，在最近的研究中我们将所有的成本加总在一起，发现全球经济每年要承担大约86亿美元的成本。”

Rabies is spread mostly by dogs, even though it exists in many bats. Men and boys generally receive more bites from infected dogs than women and girls.

狂犬病主要是由狗传播的，不过也存在于很多蝙蝠身上。一般来说男人和男孩比妇女和女孩更容易被感染狗类咬伤。

Taylor said, “It does tend to affect children slightly disproportionately and the WHO estimates probably about 40 to 60 percent of the victims are children under the age of about 16. And that comes about because with it being transmitted by dogs children tend to be attracted towards dogs. And they may not understand exactly how to behave around a dog. They may provoke the dog a little bit more than maybe an adult would. And so they tend to both be affected more by dog bites and also by more severe dog bites.”

“这种疾病对儿童的影响非常大，世卫组织估计可能有40%到60%的受害者是16岁以下的儿童，这是因为儿童更容易被狗所吸引，所以容易被狗传播疾病，他们可能并不清楚如何和狗相处，他们可能比成年人更多地挑衅了一下狗，所以他们更容易被狗咬，也容易被更咬得更严重。”

Africa, Asia and Latin America are regions where rabies is endemic.

狂犬病在非洲、亚洲和拉美很普遍。

While vaccinating dogs is routine in the U.S. and other developed countries, that’s not the case in many developing nations. It costs between one and five dollars to vaccinate a dog if done on a massive scale, like in the United States. But Taylor said that can be a financial hardship for a poor family.

在美国和其他发达国家，给狗注射疫苗是常规的事，但在很多发展中国家并非如此。像在美国对狗进行大规模的注射疫苗，每条狗需要花费1到5美元。但泰勒说这对贫困家庭来说可能是项经济负担。

“In the developing world, the infrastructure of the veterinary systems and also the health systems is just much less developed," Taylor said. "And there are just not wide-scale distribution networks for vaccination. We’re also looking at a population that is really at the poor end of the spectrum. And so those people do not necessarily have the money available to vaccinate their dogs. And there’s also an awareness issue as well that we need to build awareness that this can be prevented.”

“在发展中国家，兽医体系和医疗体系的基础设施很不健全，不存在大规模的疫苗分发网络。我们也研究了最贫困人群，这些人未必有钱来给自己的狗打疫苗，同时还有意识问题，我们需要意识到狂犬病是可以预防的。”

Taylor described the study’s findings as a current situation report of global rabies control.

泰勒称这项研究研究是对目前全球狂犬病控制的现状报告。

“These countries have many other health priorities. It’s a very difficult balance. And what we found is that canine rabies just doesn’t seem to get the attention that it really should have amongst these other competing priorities,” she said.

“这些国家有很多其他的医疗重点任务，很难进行平衡，我们发现狂犬病似乎没有得到重视，但是这个问题确实应该比其他问题更受到关注。”

In fact, The World Health Organization has classified canine rabies as a neglected tropical disease. Taylor would like rabies to be among health priorities included in the new Sustainable Development Goals later this year.

事实上，世卫组织将狂犬病划分为一种被忽略的热带疾病，泰勒希望今年晚些时候的新可持续发展目标将狂犬病列入卫生重点任务。

Because so many dogs are not vaccinated, large numbers of people must be treated after they are bitten. They must receive a series of injections to prevent the nearly always fatal disease.

因为有这么多狗没有得到免疫，大批人必须在被狗咬后接受治疗，他们必须进行多次注射来预防这种几乎致命的疾病。

For example, Taylor said in Asia 26 million people receive post-exposure treatment every year. Fifteen million of them are in China. But in Africa, many people bitten by a rabid dog have no access to life-saving treatment.

比如，泰勒说在亚洲，每年有2600万人接受感染后治疗，其中1500万是在中国。但是在非洲，很多人被患有狂犬病的狗咬后无法得到拯救生命的治疗。

Prevention, she said, is the easiest way to save lives, both animal and human.

她说，预防是拯救生命的最简单办法，无论对于动物还是人类来说都是如此。