VOA慢速英语2020 在线症状检查器的效果如何?（在线收听）

How Effective Are Online Symptom Checkers?

Many internet tools seek to identify what disease a person has based on symptoms described by the user.A new study finds these online symptom checkers are rarely correct and could be harmful.

许多互联网工具试图根据用户描述的症状来诊断此人患上了什么疾病。一项新的研究发现，这些在线症状检查器很少是正确的，并且可能是有害的。

Australian researchers at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia did the study. Their results were published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

澳大利亚珀斯市伊迪丝·考恩大学的研究人员进行了这项研究。他们的研究结果发表在《澳大利亚医学期刊》上。

Online symptom checkers are commonly found through major search engines.Google, for example, gets an estimated 70,000 health-related searches every minute.

在线症状检查器可以通过主流搜索引擎找到。例如谷歌每分钟大概有7万次与健康相关的搜索。 

The study examined 36 international internet-based symptom checkers.The tools ask a series of questions about the symptoms users are experiencing

这项研究审查了国际上36家基于互联网的症状检查器。这些工具会询问关于用户现有症状的一系列问题，

and then use that information to identify conditions the users might suffer from.

然后利用这些信息来诊断用户可能患上的疾病。 

Some tools also advise users on whether to seek medical attention.The study found that overall, symptom checkers produced the correct diagnosis as the first result 36 percent of the time.The tools predicted the right diagnosis within the top three results 52 percent of the time.

一些工具还会建议用户是否需要就医。该研究发现，总体而言，症状检查器第一次做出正确诊断的几率是36%。这些工具在前三次内作出正确诊断的几率是52%。

Michella Hill is a student at Edith Cowan and a leader of the research.She says the findings demonstrate why users should be very careful about using the systems for diagnostic purposes."While it may be tempting to use these tools to find out what may be causing your symptoms,most of the time they are unreliable at best and can be dangerous at worst," Hill said.

米歇尔·希尔是伊迪丝·考恩大学的学生，也是这项研究的负责人。她说，这些发现表明了为何用户在使用该系统进行诊断时应格外谨慎。希尔说:“虽然使用这类工具找出潜在病因可能会很吸引人，但大多数时候，它们在最好的情况下是不可靠的，而在最坏的情况下可能会很危险。”

She said one of the main problems with online symptom checkers is that they depend on too little information."They do not look at the whole picture -- they dont know your medical history or other symptoms."

她说，在线症状检查器的主要问题之一是它们依赖的信息太少。“它们不会考虑全局，他们不知道你的病史或是其它症状。”

Hill added: "For people who lack health knowledge, they may think the advice theyre given is accurate,or that their condition is not serious, when it may be."

希尔补充说:“对于那些缺乏健康知识的人来说，他们可能会认为在线症状检查器给出的建议是准确的，或者病情并不严重。”

The Australian study did find the symptom checkers produced more accurate results for advice on when and where users should seek medical attention.The advice for emergency and serious medical cases was correct about 60 percent of the time.

澳大利亚的这项研究确实发现，症状检查器在建议用户何时何地寻求医疗服务时提供了更准确的结果。对于紧急或严重医疗案例的建议大约有60%的时候是正确的。

That number dropped to 30-40 percent accuracy for non-emergencies.Hill said she does think online symptom tools can effectively fill a need in the modern health system."These sites are not a replacement for going to the doctor,but they can be useful in providing more information once you do have an official diagnosis," she said.

对于非紧急情况，准确度下降到了30%到40%。希尔说，她确实认为在线症状工具可以有效地满足现代卫生系统的需求。她说:“这些网站并不能取代看医生，但是一旦你得到正式诊断，它们可以提供更多信息。”

Internet searches related to information about the new coronavirus topped all others in recent months on Google, the Google Trends website reports.Many users have also turned to Google for information on virus symptoms.

据谷歌趋势网站报道，最近几个月谷歌网站上新冠病毒相关信息的搜索量高居榜首。很多用户还到谷歌网站上查找关于这种病毒症状的信息。

The top-searched coronavirus symptom by far over the past four months was fever, Google Trends shows.This was followed by sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of taste and loss of smell.

谷歌趋势显示，在过去四个月里，搜索最多的新冠病毒症状是发烧。其次是喉咙痛、呼吸急促、味觉丧失和嗅觉丧失。

Google also provides a tool for users to check their symptoms related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.The company says the tool is designed "for informational purposes only," and not meant to provide a medical diagnosis.The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month it is planning to launch its own symptom checking tool.

谷歌还为用户提供了一个工具，用于检查其新冠肺炎相关症状，新冠肺炎是由冠状病毒引起的一种疾病。该公司表示，该工具旨在“仅提供参考，” 并不意味着是提供医学诊断。世界卫生组织(WHO)本月早些时候表示，计划推出自己的症状检查工具。

A WHO official told the Reuters news agency the wireless device tool is expected to be popular in countries lacking their own development resources.Engineers and designers – including former Google and Microsoft employees –

一名世界卫生组织官员告诉路透社，这种无线设备工具有望在缺乏自身开发资源的国家中流行。据路透社报道，包括谷歌和微软前员工在内的工程师和设计师

have been volunteering their time to develop the WHO app, Reuters reported.

一直在自愿投入时间来研发世卫组织的应用程序。 

Im Bryan Lynn.

布莱恩·林恩为您播报。