VOA标准英语2014--New, Fatal Bird Flu Strain Closely Monitored 密切监视新的致命禽流感病毒H7N9

 

New, Fatal Bird Flu Strain Closely Monitored 密切监视新的致命禽流感病毒H7N9

WASHINGTON — In the past 10 years, a deadly strain of bird flu has killed more than half of the people who got it. Now, there's a new strain of bird flu circulating that can kill about a third of the humans who contract it. Whenever there's a virus this lethal¹, there are always fears of a pandemic.

Several years ago, men in protective suits decontaminating poultry² farms and  destroying chickens infected with a deadly bird flu was a scene witnessed throughout Asia. The virus killed birds, and although it rarely infected people, those who got it were more likely to die than to recover. 

That virus was H5N1. There's now a vaccine³ against it for poultry.

But a new strain of bird strain has emerged and is causing alarm. This one is called H7N9. H7N9 doesn't kill poultry or even make them sick, but it can be deadly when it is transmitted from a chicken to a person. 

One concern that's been raised is that every time a human gets the H7N9 virus, the world is closer to a pandemic.

"That’s not correct," said Anthony Fauci, who heads the infectious diseases division at the National Institutes of Health.

"Microbes continue to emerge and re-emerge. The concern about this is that these viruses have jumped into humans and have been lethal. The news that is somewhat comforting is that it hasn’t had sustained transmissibility," Fauci continued.

Because of the genetic⁴ makeup⁵ of these strains of bird flu, it is difficult for them to spread from person to person. Since the H7N9 virus emerged a year ago, some 350 people have caught it. Thirty percent have died. Most had contact with poultry. 

"There’s always the danger when you have influenzas that infect chickens, that when you have the close quarters of chickens spreading from one to another and occasionally a human coming into close contact, that there will be the jumping of species from a chicken to a human. This is not something new," said Fauci.

 

Fauci said any time a new virus emerges, health officials have to watch it carefully.  The U.S. has developed a vaccine for H5N1 and is working on one for the newer strain of bird flu, but he doesn't think this new strain is any more threatening than H5N1. This virus has been circulating since 2003 and still doesn't spread easily from person to person.

1 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

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 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。

4 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

5 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？