VOA标准英语2008年-Severe Pneumonia Can Be Effectively Treated at

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
05 January 2008

A new study sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows children with severe pneumonia¹ can be effectively treated at home and do not need to be hospitalized. The World Health Organization calls this finding hugely significant for developing countries.  It says the change of treatment will save many children's lives and take pressure off health systems. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

Pneumonia is the largest single killer² of children under age five around the world.  The World Health Organization says almost four children die from pneumonia every minute.  Most are in developing countries.

Current WHO guidelines recommend that severe and very severe cases of pneumonia be treated in the hospital with injectable antibiotics⁴.  But, recent studies show severe cases of pneumonia can be treated just as effectively at home with oral antibiotics.

A Medical Officer with WHO's Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development, Shamim Qazi, says children in developing countries will greatly benefit from this simpler way of treating pneumonia.

"The first benefit is that when you treat a child in a hospital, you also expose the child to hospital infections," he said.  "And the second is the child needs four times injections.  Third, you need nurses and doctors who spend time on that.  In developing countries with a limited number of hospital beds and nurses and doctors available, it basically overburdens the health system.  In many places, they do not have enough beds to admit all children.  So, they sometimes put three children in one bed." 

The study was conducted in Pakistan by researchers from Boston University School of Public Health and supported by the World Health Organization and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  It involved more than 2,000 children with severe pneumonia who were randomly⁵ assigned to get either injectable antibiotics in a hospital or antibiotic³ pills at home.

Doctor Qazi says the study confirms the findings of three other trials at sites in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.  He says the potential impact of these results is enormous.

"If we can treat a large majority of severe pneumonia at home with just oral antibiotics, which is simple to give twice a day, which is less costly," he noted⁶.  "It is $1 to $2 per course for a child."

Doctor Qazi says home treatment is beneficial for other reasons as well.  He notes families in the poorest countries may live far away from hospitals.  In many cases, he says parents may not be able to leave their homes to accompany a sick child for in-patient treatment. 

Also, he says, children with pneumonia are vulnerable to infections, because of a weakened immune system and could be at increased risk in crowded hospital wards⁷.

However, he says a small number of cases of very severe pneumonia will still require treatment with injectable antibiotics in a hospital.

1 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

4 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

5 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 wards   

区( ward的名词复数 )； 病房； 受监护的未成年者； 被人照顾或控制的状态

参考例句：

• This hospital has 20 medical [surgical] wards. 这所医院有 20 个内科[外科]病房。
• It was a big constituency divided into three wards. 这是一个大选区，下设三个分区。