VOA慢速英语2014 世卫组织称实验药物治疗埃博拉合乎伦理

 

AS IT IS 2014-08-13 WHO Says Experimental Drugs Ethical¹ for Ebola Patients 世卫组织称实验药物治疗埃博拉合乎伦理

Officials in Liberia say they expect to receive an experimental drug from a U.S. company to treat Ebola patients. The drug is called ZMapp. However, it has not been tested for safety in humans. Liberian officials plan to use the drug to treat two doctors who became infected with Ebola while treating patients.

The World Health Organization has said it is ethical to give unproven drugs to Ebola patients to try to fight the disease in West Africa.  The WHO said that use of ZMapp must be done with, in its words, "informed consent, freedom of choice, confidentiality², respect for the person, preservation³ of dignity and involvement of the community."

A Catholic religious worker from Spain received ZMapp at a hospital in Madrid, but officials there announced Tuesday that he had died. The drug also is being used to treat two U.S. aid workers. The patients have shown signs of improvement. However, officials do not know if their improvement is the result of the drug treatment.

The Liberian patients would be the first in Africa to use ZMapp. That has caused some people to ask questions about access to medicines. Users on the social media application Twitter have posted comments using the hashtag #GiveUstheSerum. A hashtag is a way to group Tweets, or Twitter messages, related to a topic.  Some Tweets say that if Americans and Europeans can choose whether to use the drug, then others also should be able to make that decision.

The WHO says more than 1,000 people have died since the outbreak began in February. Most of the deaths were in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Health officials in Nigeria recently confirmed a new case of Ebola on Monday.  At that time, officials said 10 people had been infected and two people had died. The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa may infect more people than all previous outbreaks of the virus combined.  Currently, the disease has no known cure or vaccine⁴.

1 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

2 confidentiality   

n.秘而不宣，保密

参考例句：

• They signed a confidentiality agreement. 他们签署了一份保守机密的协议。
• Cryptography is the foundation of supporting authentication, integrality and confidentiality. 而密码学是支持认证、完整性和机密性机制的基础。

3 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。