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非洲之角再现小儿麻痹疫情

The global community came tantalizingly¹ close earlier this year to ridding the world of polio. But then in May, the eradication² effort took a powerful blow. The virus turned up again in the Horn of Africa, first in Somalia.

今年早些时候，国际社会一度因为即将在世界上消灭小儿麻痹症而欣喜若狂。然而，刚到5月，根除小儿麻痹症的努力就遭遇了沉重打击。小儿麻痹病毒首先在索马里、然后在非洲之角死灰复燃。

The Banadir region of Somalia, which includes a Mogadishu refugee camp, is thought to be the so-called “engine” of the Horn of Africa polio outbreak.

索马里的巴纳迪尔地区，包括摩加迪沙的这座难民营，被认为是非洲之角爆发小儿麻痹疫情的源头。

In June, three-year-old Mohamed Naasir became ill.  His mother, Khadija Abdullahi Adam, said soon after one leg became permanently³ disabled.

6月，3岁的纳西尔病了。他的妈妈卡迪加说，很快，纳西尔的一条腿不能动了。

“My son was fine, but he started having a high fever which lasted for almost four days," she explained.  "I gave him medicine, but there was no change.  The following morning he said to me ‘Mom, I can’t stand up.’”

“我儿子本来好好的，突然开始发烧，烧了将近四天。我喂他吃药，但一点都不管用。第五天早上，他说，妈妈，我站不起来了。

The virus has spread at a rapid pace, triggering massive vaccination⁴ efforts.

病毒传播得很快，地方卫生部门开始大范围接种疫苗。

Earlier in 2013, polio was confined to three so-called “endemic countries” -- Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- where the virus has never been snuffed out.  Combined there were fewer than 100 cases in those three countries.

2013年初，小儿麻痹症局限于这种病毒一直没有被消灭的尼日利亚，阿富汗和巴基斯坦。在这三个国家里，共有小儿麻痹症病例不到一百例。

Since the virus re-emerged in the Horn of Africa, there have been at least 160 polio cases in Somalia alone, and the virus has spread to Kenya and Ethiopia.

自小儿麻痹症在非洲之角再度出现以来，仅索马里一个国家就有至少160个病例，病毒已经传播至肯尼亚和埃塞俄比亚。

Genetic⁵ analysts⁶ suggest the virus sweeping⁷ through the Horn of Africa is most similar to the strain found in Nigeria.

遗传分析显示，在非洲之角传播的病毒与在尼日利亚发现的病毒最为相似。

Partners working to eradicate⁸ polio, such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF and Rotary⁹ International, say the virus can spread more easily in Somalia, which has the largest group of unvaccinated children.  That’s largely because conflict has kept vaccination crews from being able to reach them.  But there are other problems too, according to Rotary International’s Dr. John Sever¹¹.

世界卫生组织、联合国儿童基金会和国际扶轮社等致力于消灭小儿麻痹症的机构说，这种病毒在索马里更容易传播，因为索马里没接种过疫苗的儿童最多，而这主要是因为武装冲突使防疫人员难以到达这些儿童居住的地方。但国际扶轮社的约翰·塞弗医生指出了一些其他问题。

“The problems of being remote, problems of distrust on the part of the families, the problems of communication, the problems of mapping and realizing where these people are and they migrate from one area to another,” Sever said.

约翰·塞弗医生说：“比如距离太远，儿童家长不信任疫苗接种，存在交流沟通问题，另外还要确定这些不断迁徙的人住在什么地方，等等。”

Many families are suspicious of outsiders, especially from the West.

很多家庭对外人、特别是西方人心存疑虑，

So for vaccination crews, it is vital that they work with local government and religious leaders, like Somali Islamic scholar Sheikh Abdulkadir Homhamed Soomow.

因此对接种人员来说，重要的是跟地方政府和宗教领袖合作，比如索马里的伊斯兰学者谢赫·阿卜杜拉·苏莫。

“We urge the people of Somalia to be vaccinated¹⁰. The doctors tell us that polio can kill and it’s harmful to both adults and children,” he said.

他说：““我们敦促索马里人接种疫苗，医生告诉我们，小儿麻痹症会死人，对大人和孩子都危险。”

Recently, global partners pledged $5.5 billion for a five-year plan to end polio once and for all.  The plan, now underway, includes blanketing polio hotspots with vaccination crews, to essentially¹² corner and kill the enemy.

最近，各国际机构为一个永久消灭小儿麻痹症的5年计划认捐了55亿美元。已经开始实施的这个计划包括在小儿麻痹症多发地区进行拉网式接种，集中兵力打歼灭战。

“We’re getting closer, that’s the encouraging part," Dr. Sever said, adding that global partners know what to do and still hope to rid the world of polio by 2015.

国际扶轮社的约翰·塞弗医生说：“我们正在接近目标，这令人鼓舞。”塞弗说，全球合作伙伴目标明确，仍希望2015年前在全世界消灭小儿麻痹症。