美国国家公共电台 NPR Measles Outbreak 'Accelerates,' Health Officials Warn

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Measles¹ is surging throughout the world. The World Health Organization is reporting that cases have nearly quadrupled in the first few months of this year. And U.S. public health officials say 555 cases have been confirmed nationwide. NPR's Patti Neighmond reports.

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE²: So far, measles has been confirmed in 20 states. Pediatrician Amanda Cohn, adviser³ on vaccines⁵ with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says cases of the disease are accelerating fast.

AMANDA COHN: We are on track to have one of the highest numbers of cases of measles reported since we eliminated measles in the year 2000.

NEIGHMOND: But more and more parents are opting⁶ out of vaccinating⁷ their child for religious or personal reasons, and more people are traveling to countries where measles is common.

COHN: Countries such as Israel, the Ukraine, Philippines. When people go to those countries and are exposed to measles and they weren't vaccinated⁸, they then travel back from that country to the United States...

NEIGHMOND: Bringing with them the extremely contagious⁹ virus.

COHN: If there's a hundred people in the room who have not been vaccinated, 90 people who were just exposed in a room will develop measles.

NEIGHMOND: Measles spreads when people cough or sneeze. Droplets¹⁰ of the virus can survive in the air for a couple of hours. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville, calls measles an extremely vile¹¹ infection that can pose great danger for children who are not vaccinated and come down with the disease. They become miserably¹² ill for a week and a half, he says, and many can suffer severe complications.

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: You can get middle ear infection - otitis media - pneumonia¹³, which can be life-threatening. And worst of all, one in every thousand children will develop encephalitis.

NEIGHMOND: Where the virus travels to the brain and can inflame¹⁴ brain tissue.

SCHAFFNER: This can lead, obviously, to deaths. And some children who recover are left with permanent disabilities.

NEIGHMOND: The best protection, says CDC pediatrician Dr. Amanda Cohn - vaccination¹⁵.

COHN: If your child has gotten vaccinated with two doses of measles vaccine⁴, your child is highly protected, and you do not need to be worried about measles in your community.

NEIGHMOND: Public health authorities in the U.S. and around the world want to make sure that accurate information about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine is readily available to parents and that parents get their children vaccinated. Patti Neighmond, NPR News.

1 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 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。

5 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。

6 opting   

v.选择，挑选( opt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• What courses are most students opting for? 多数学生选什么课程？ 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Wells doesn't rule out opting out and then re-signing with Houston. 威尔斯没有排除跳出合同再与火箭重签的可能。 来自互联网

7 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

8 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

9 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

10 droplets   

n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Droplets of sweat were welling up on his forehead. 他额头上冒出了滴滴汗珠。 来自辞典例句
• In constrast, exhaled smoke contains relatively large water droplets and appears white. 相反，从人嘴里呼出的烟则包含相当大的水滴，所以呈白色。 来自辞典例句

11 vile   

adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的

参考例句：

• Who could have carried out such a vile attack?会是谁发起这么卑鄙的攻击呢？
• Her talk was full of vile curses.她的话里充满着恶毒的咒骂。

12 miserably   

adv.痛苦地；悲惨地；糟糕地；极度地

参考例句：

• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。
• It was drizzling, and miserably cold and damp. 外面下着毛毛细雨，天气又冷又湿，令人难受。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 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。

14 inflame   

v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎

参考例句：

• Our lack of response seemed to inflame the colonel.由于我们没有反应,好象惹恼了那个上校。
• Chemical agents manufactured by our immune system inflame our cells and tissues,causing our nose to run and our throat to swell.我们的免疫系统产生的化学物质导致我们的细胞和组织发炎，导致我们流鼻水和我们的喉咙膨胀。

15 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。