2006年VOA标准英语-Bird Flu, Radiation Top Agenda for Tokyo Health

By Steve Herman
Tokyo
07 December 2006

Top-level international health officials say recent outbreaks of bird flu in South Korea emphasize the need for greater preparedness to deal with a potential human influenza¹ pandemic.  As Steve Herman reports from Tokyo, the health ministers also discussed responses to the threat highlighted by the recent case of radiation poisoning in Britain.

 
Senior health officials meet in Tokyo
Officials at the seventh ministerial meeting of the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI) said here Thursday that recent outbreaks of bird flu among South Korean poultry² were a reminder³ of the danger posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus.   They said preparing for a possible human pandemic of bird flu remained their main priority.

The H5N1 virus can already pass, with some difficulty, from sick birds to humans, and has so far killed more than 150 people worldwide. Scientists are concerned it may mutate into a form easily transferable between humans, raising the possibility of a global pandemic that could kill millions.

 
David Heymann 
David Heymann is the World Health Organization's (WHO) Assistant Director-General for communicable diseases. He told reporters in Tokyo Thursday that an effort is underway to increase stockpiles in affected⁴ countries of the antiviral drug oseltamivir, also known as Tamiflu.

"This would permit countries where this event might occur to respond with drugs to try to prevent greater spread of human-to-human transmission from the site where it is begun, in other words, to stop a potential pandemic," he said.

The informal annual GSHI meetings bring together health experts and officials from the WHO and Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the United States and the European Union.

The organization aims to strengthen preparedness against influenza pandemics and threats of biological, chemical and nuclear terrorism.

Another topic discussed at the Tokyo conference was the radiation alert in Britain triggered by the death of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, from the radioactive chemical polonium-210. 

 
Rosie Winterton, Britain's Minister of State for Health Services
Rosie Winterton, Britain's health services minister, said she brought her colleagues up to date on the Litvinenko case.

"The meeting today certainly provided an opportunity for the U.K. to update colleagues on the current situation," she said.  "The GHSI network had been used to communicate the latest situation in terms of the health information to colleagues in other countries."

British authorities on Wednesday said they were now treating the November 23 death of Litvinenko as a murder.

1 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。