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South and Southeast Asian countries are grappling with new outbreaks of bird flu as winter weather sweeps across the region. The latest outbreaks are still confined primarily to poultry¹, but one new human death has been reported in Vietnam.

亚及东南亚国家在冬季来临时，正在奋力采取措施，抗击禽流感再次爆发。

Health officials in India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam have ordered the culling² of millions of chickens as they attempt to control fresh outbreaks of bird flu.

印度、孟加拉国、泰国和越南的卫生官员已下令宰杀几百万只鸡，以努力控制禽流感的再度爆发。

In India, the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has spread rapidly in recent weeks among poultry flocks in the eastern state of West Bengal - a densely⁴ populated region of more than 25 million people.

Indian Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar says the culling of affected⁵ poultry needs to be speeded up. He says villagers are resisting the culling of birds because there have been delays in granting them compensation.

印度农业部长帕瓦尔说，需要加速宰杀病鸡。他说：“村民正在抵制宰杀行动，因为没能及时给予他们赔偿费。”

"Authorities in West Bengal admit they are falling behind in attempts to slaughter⁶ the affected birds, and have appealed to other states for assistance," said Pawar.

西孟加拉邦的当局承认他们宰杀行动不力，并呼吁其它各邦来援助。

"There have been no human infections reported yet in India, but health officials in West Bengal fear that ignorance of the disease is increasing the chances of its spread to humans. There are reports of children playing with chickens in affected villages, and dead birds being dumped in ponds. Human beings can catch bird flu by coming into direct contact with infected poultry."

在印度还没有人类感染禽流感的报导，但是在西孟加拉邦的卫生官员担心，对这种疾病的无知会扩大人类感染的可能性。有报导说，在感染区的村庄里，小孩仍和鸡接触，死禽被扔在池塘里。直接接触病禽的人有可能感染禽流感。

"In Bangladesh, which adjoins West Bengal, the virus has spread to nearly half of the country," said Pawar. "The government has been struggling to contain the disease since last March."

在与西孟加拉邦相邻的孟加拉国，禽流感病毒已蔓延到全国近一半地区。政府从去年三月以来一直在努力抗击并控制禽流感。

Thailand has reported its first outbreak of bird flu in 10 months in a region north of Bangkok. Officials say more than four thousand chickens have already been slaughtered⁷ in the country, which is among those hardest hit by the virus since it reappeared in Asia in 2003," said Pawar. "Vietnam has confirmed that bird flu killed one man in the north of the country, the first human fatality⁸ from the disease there this year. Bird flu has previously⁹ claimed 47 lives in Vietnam.

据报导，泰国在曼谷以北地区发生了十个月来第一起禽流感爆发。官方表示，全国有四千多只鸡已被宰杀，泰国是自从2003年禽流感在亚洲重现以来受这种疾患感染最严重的国家之一。越南已确诊，本国北部地区有一名男子死于禽流感，这是今年该地区人类患禽流感的首次死亡病例。禽流感过去在越南曾导致47人死亡。

"East Asian countries such as Vietnam and China are worried about the increased risk of animal-related diseases during the lunar New Year holiday next month, when travel from one region to another and poultry consumption rise rapidly," Pawar said.

越南和中国等国家担心在下个月农历新年期间会有更多与动物有关的疫症爆发，因为在节期内人们从一个地区到另一地区的旅行更加频繁，而且食用的鸡鸭数量也大大增加。

The World Health Organization's spokeswoman in New Delhi, Shima Roy, says the risks in Asia are especially high because poultry is so much a part of daily life.

世界卫生组织在新德里的发言人罗伊说，亚洲爆发禽流感的危险性特别高，因为禽类是人们日常生活的重要部分。她说：

"All in all it is a worry because we are dealing¹⁰ with very dense³ populations of animals and humans and their interaction," said Roy. "Poultry is part and parcel of our lives here in Southeast Asia, it is not possible to eliminate it from our lifestyles, so we should be vigilant¹¹ and practice safe methods of keeping poultry."

“归根到底，我们担心的根源是我们正在处理的问题是密集的人口及密集的动物和两者间的日常接触。在东南亚，禽类是人类生活的重要部分，在人们的生活方式中禽类是不可消除的，所以我们务必提高警惕、在家禽饲养中采取安全措施。”

The H5N1 virus is mainly an animal disease, but there are fears it could mutate and spread rapidly among humans, sparking a global pandemic. The WHO says more than 200 people have died from bird flu so far, mostly in Asia.

H5N1型禽流感病毒主要导致动物疫症，但是人们担心这种病毒可能发生变异，成为可以在人类中迅速传播的那种类型，以至导致在全球范围内爆发的疫症。世卫组织说，迄今为止已经有二百多人死于禽流感，大部分是在亚洲。