肯尼亚医生致力于消除沙眼病

 　　肯尼亚医生致力于消除沙眼病

         KAJIADO, KENYA — Health workers in Kenya say more than 60,000 people are living with trachoma, an infectious eye disease that causes blindness if not treated early. Medical professionals are working in a remote village to bring an outbreak of the disease under control.

　　In this remote rural district in southern Kenya, a local trachoma monitor teaches a group of women how to prevent the eye disease and also how and where to get treatment.

　　Lester Mortai is well known in this area for his work fighting trachoma.

　　He frequently travels through villages, advising people on the best ways to avoid getting the painful disease.

　　“I do visit homesteads and tell people to how to prevent diseases by having their own initiative, to have that facial cleanliness those without trachoma and even those with trachoma," said Mortai.

　　Trachoma is caused by bacteria and is transmitted by contact with eye or nose discharged of an infected person. In developing countries, flies are a major source of transmission.

　　The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) says more than 7,000 people in Kajiado suffer from trachoma - which is typical in this type of poor pastoral community.

　　It characterized by painful eyelid¹ swelling² and scarring of the outer surface of the eye, the cornea.

　　Ngeyan Nge is a trachoma sufferer with an advanced stage of the disease. To avoid blindness, Nge will undergo surgery.

　　“I am hopeful about the future, even though in the beginning I was opposed to the surgery. I have changed my mind, after continuous advice from people," said Nge.

　　John Soine, with AMREF, travels to remote areas of Kenya to operate on those with serious cases of trachoma like Nge’s.

　　“If these people with active infections are not treated, they end up developing complications whereby the eyelashes start facing inwards and start rubbing on the eye ball. And at this stage one may lose vision. And the loss of vision in trachoma is irreversible," said Soine.

　　Kadogo Salaash had almost lost her vision to the disease more than five years ago. She too was initially³ doubtful surgery could help her.

　　“When I decided⁴ to go for the eye surgery, I was worried and uncomfortable, I thought after the surgery I would not see again. But now it’s the opposite; I am confident, happy and I can do my work well," said Salaash.

　　With this kind of medical assistance and campaigns at educate schools and poorer communities, Kenyan medical officials hope to reduce trachoma prevalence to under 10 percent and eventually eliminate it entirely⁵ by 2020.

1 eyelid   

n.眼睑，眼皮

参考例句：

• She lifted one eyelid to see what he was doing.她抬起一只眼皮看看他在做什么。
• My eyelid has been tumid since yesterday.从昨天起，我的眼皮就肿了。

2 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

3 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。