ENVIRONMENT REPORT - Chronic Wasting Disease in Animals in U

ENVIRONMENT REPORT - September 27, 2002: Chronic¹ Wasting Disease² in Animals in U.S.

By Mario Ritter

This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT.

Chronic wasting disease is infecting large animals like deer and elk³ in several areas
in the United States. The disease was first discovered in nineteen-sixty-seven at a
wildlife research center in the western state of Colorado. It was identified as
transmissible⁴ spongiform encephalopathy in nineteen-seventy-eight.

Biologists believe an abnormal⁵ form of a protein causes the disease. The protein
infects tissue⁶ and spreads quickly. Chronic wasting disease causes weight loss and
death in animals like deer and elk.

An elk
In the nineteen-eighties, the disease was found in wild deer and elk in Colorado and Wyoming. Wild groups of
animals and deer raised on farms in other areas developed the disease. Today, chronic wasting disease is found in
at least eight American states and two provinces of Canada.

Biologists are concerned about chronic wasting disease because it may be similar to mad cow disease, the
common name of bovine⁷ spongiform encephalopathy. Mad cow disease can be spread to humans. The human
form of the disease is called Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease. It causes brain damage that leads to death. The New York
Times reports that about three-hundred Americans become infected with that disease each year.

Currently⁸, there is no evidence that chronic wasting disease can affect humans. The United States Department of
Agriculture also says it does not believe that the disease can be spread to other kinds of animals.

The middle western state of Wisconsin has found thirty-one wild deer infected with chronic wasting disease. The
state has ordered that twenty-five- thousand deer be destroyed. It wants to test another twenty-five- thousand
animals for the disease.

However, some people oppose destroying so many animals. They say less than three percent of the deer tested for
the disease had it. They say it is impossible to completely destroy the disease in the wild.

Hunting for deer in Wisconsin is a huge industry. Experts say the disease will hurt the state’s economy. Also,
many people who hunt for food may have to change their way of life. Experts say the spread of chronic wasting
disease may affect the tradition of hunting in America.

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Mario Ritter.

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version

1 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

2 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

3 elk   

n.麋鹿

参考例句：

• I was close enough to the elk to hear its labored breathing.我离那头麋鹿非常近，能听见它吃力的呼吸声。
• The refuge contains the largest wintering population of elk in the world.这座庇护所有着世界上数量最大的冬季麋鹿群。

4 transmissible   

adj.可传送的，可遗传的

参考例句：

• By 1965 they had shown that kuru was transmissible. 到1965年，这些动物已显示出库鲁病具有传染性。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 口蹄疫疯牛病
• Only the additive genetic variance is transmissible by seed. 仅仅加性遗传方差是由种子遗传的。 来自辞典例句

5 abnormal   

adj.反常的，不正常的，不规则的

参考例句：

• This warm weather is abnormal for February.二月里这种温暖的天气不太正常。
• That is simply abnormal.那简直是反常的。

6 tissue   

n.组织；薄纱，薄纸，手巾纸

参考例句：

• As we age we lose muscle tissue.肌肉组织会随着我们日趋衰老而萎缩。
• Athletes have hardly any fatty tissue.运动员几乎没有什么脂肪组织。

7 bovine   

adj.牛的；n.牛

参考例句：

• He threw off his pack and went into the rush-grass andand munching,like some bovine creature.他丢开包袱，爬到灯心草丛里，像牛似的大咬大嚼起来。
• He was a gentle,rather bovine man.他是一位文雅而反应迟钝的人。

8 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。