VOA标准英语2013--Hopes and Fears in China Bird Flu Battle

 

Hopes and Fears in China Bird Flu Battle

Authorities culled¹ poultry² in Shanghai markets after detecting H7N9 in local pigeons. Taiwan will make anti-viral drugs available for public purchase, at a subsidized price, through April. 

While China reported that a four-year-old boy made a full recovery from H7N9 flu, of 24 known cases, seven people have died.

Professor Malik Peiris is director of the Pasteur Research Centre at Hong Kong University.

“You have to be cautious about interpreting mortality rates because, usually, only the most severe cases are investigated," said Peiris. "There could be milder cases that go unrecognized. So on the one hand this would make the mortality and the severity less. But on the other, it would mean there is more transmission occurring in humans too.”

Beginning April 11, imported live poultry will only be sold in Hong Kong after a 3-percent sample is tested for H7N9. To develop vaccines³ and break the infection cycle, Peris says, the source of the outbreak must be identified.

“It is an unpredictable virus," he said. "There are hundreds of people working closely with poultry who do not seem to get infected. But there is the one person who may have quite a tenuous⁴ contact who [does]. "What is crucial is to go upstream, along the poultry marketing⁵ chain, ideally to the farms, and identify which species is the main source.”

Thomas Abraham, who wrote a book about the 2003 SARS epidemic⁶, says the Chinese government cover-up which contributed to the spread of SARS, is unlikely to be repeated with H7N9.

“One of the early [H7N9] cases in Shanghai, even though the hospital said nothing, the patient’s admission slip was photographed and put on [the Chinese website] Weibo. This kind of information flow is a dam that is unstoppable," said Abraham.

While World Health Organization officials say there is no need for panic, Laurie Garrett, an expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, is concerned that the H7N9 death toll⁷ will rise.

“What 2009 taught us with swine flu is that global solidarity⁸ can break down very fast," said Garrett. "Countries start closing airports and quarantining travelers. They start hoarding⁹ drugs and vaccines. It is not a pretty picture.”

With public fear an issue, researchers in Hong Kong have announced they will revisit a 2009 study to confirm that surgical¹⁰ masks - widely worn during flu season - are indeed 70 percent effective in preventing the spread of flu viruses. 

1 culled   

v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The herd must be culled. 必须有选择地杀掉部分牧畜。 来自辞典例句
• The facts were culled from various sources. 这些事实是从各方收集到的。 来自辞典例句

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 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

4 tenuous   

adj.细薄的，稀薄的，空洞的

参考例句：

• He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
• The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。

5 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

7 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

8 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

9 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

10 surgical   

adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的

参考例句：

• He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
• All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前，必须消毒。