VOA常速英语2015--用数据来对付埃博拉疫情（在线收听）

用数据来对付埃博拉疫情

The World Health Organization recently called for 900 more epidemiologists to join the battle against Ebola in West Africa. That’s triple the current number. Epidemiologists study the patterns of disease outbreaks to determine how they spread and where they may go next.

世卫组织最近呼吁900多名流行病专家加入到西非抗击埃博拉的战斗中来，这个人数是目前的三倍。流行病专家研究疾病暴发的模式，从而判断疾病是如何传播，以及下一步可能会传播到哪里。

Upon hearing the WHO announcement regarding epidemiologists, Dr. Rossi Hassad said it’s about time. Hassad is an epidemiologist himself and a professor at Mercy College in New York.

在听到世卫组织关于流行病专家的声明后，罗西·哈萨德博士说这是个时间问题。哈萨德本人是流行病专家，也是纽约玛希学院的一名教授。

“An epidemiologist is a health care professional, who is concerned with the distribution and determinants of diseases in a community. They operate at the population level, rather than the individual or clinical level. They are investigators or what we called detectives of medicine. And they focus largely on intelligence – data about morbidity, mortality – meaning illness, death and symptoms,” he said.

“流行病专家是医疗方面的专家，主要关注一个社区里疾病的传播和决定因子。他们是以人群为研究对象，而不是从个人或临床层面来研究的。他们是调查人员，也就是我们所说的医疗侦探。他们主要关注情报信息，有关发病率的数据，发病率意味着疾病、死亡和病症。”

The information they gather is used to create a geographical map and timeline of the outbreak. Epidemiologists, though, do not treat patients.

他们收集的数据用来制作地图和疾病暴发的时间线，但是流行病专家并不给患者提供治疗。

“So an epidemiologist will be analyzing data. Would be presenting data. Will be using various algorithms to help to explain and predict where symptoms are occurring and what we might see next. So it’s largely analytical work that an epidemiologist does,” he said.

“所以流行病专家将会分析数据和提供数据，使用各种计算方法来帮助解释和预测病症将在哪里出现，下一步会怎样。所以流行病专家做的主要是分析工作。”

An algorithm is used in math and computer science. It’s described as a step-by-step procedure for calculations.

算法被用在数学和电脑科学中，被称作是一步步计算的过程。

Hassad said epidemiologists are a necessity in the fight against Ebola. He said there’s a saying regarding infectious diseases: “A case anywhere is a risk everywhere.”

哈萨德说流行病专家在抗击埃博拉中是必须的，他说有个关于传染病的说法是，“任何风险无处不在”。

“With Ebola a single case can reignite an epidemic. And you need every contact from every case. And it’s good, old fashion epidemiology that helps us to find those contacts and properly assess them,” he said.

“就埃博拉来说，一个病例就能引发流行病，你需要对每个病例所接触的人都要了解，这很好，过去的流行病学帮助我们发现这些接触对象并适当地进行评估。”

He said epidemiologists pay “strict attention to psychosocial and sociocultural factors and dynamics.” One of the most important things they will do, he said, is set up a comprehensive surveillance system.

他说流行病专家非常关注心理和社会文化因素及动态分析，他说他们所做的最重要的事情之一，就是建立综合的监控系统。

“We have had a huge focus on the clinical component of this epidemic. And what that does is it doesn’t interrupt the chain of transmission. So you have a steady flow of cases with a huge focus on treatment,” he said.

“我们非常关注这次流行病的临床部分，不会打断传播链，所以我们会重点关注不断出现的病例的治疗情况。”

Besides being critical of the initial slow response to the outbreak, Hassad said there has been a lack of collaboration between the clinical and public health arms of medicine.

哈萨德说，这次疫情爆发中除了最初应对缓慢外，临床和公共医疗部门之间也缺少协作。

“At times the information and narrative that we have heard and seen suggested one of competition – protection of turf -- rather than collaboration and cooperation. And I hope that for 2015 and beyond we could improve on that.”

“从我们经常得到的信息和叙述中可以得知其中存在竞争，也就是保护地盘，而不是协作和合作，我希望2015年后这一情况能得到改善。”

Similar complaints of a lack of cooperation and openness were heard during the earlier years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

在早期艾滋病毒和艾滋病肆虐时，我们也听说过缺少合作和开放度的抱怨。

Dr. Hassad praised the current fast-tracking of Ebola research.

哈萨德赞扬了目前埃博拉研究上的快速跟进。

“Ebola has been with us for 40 years and, as we all know, the lack of action or the inaction over the years was largely because of a lack of financial or economic incentive to move along pharmaceutical research and production. Now, I think the huge threat that this epidemic poses will motivate governments to support. I think we will see that,” he said.

“埃博拉已经出现40年了，就我们所知道的来讲，这么多年来缺少行动或行动不力，在很大程度上是因为缺少进行医药研究和生产的财政或经济刺激。现在，我想这次疫情带来的巨大威胁将激励政府提供支持，我想我们会看到这一点的。”

However, he’s not sure that an effective vaccine will be ready in time to have a major effect on the epidemic. The outbreak, however, could result in better overall healthcare for Africans.

不过，他不确定是否将出现能极大遏制这场疫情的有效疫苗，然而，这次疫情能使非洲人得到更好的整体医疗条件。

“I do believe that the magnitude of the current epidemic will be a huge motivating factor to get projects moving along to improve the healthcare infrastructure of West Africa. Sustaining it will be another concern,” he said.

“我确实认为目前这场疫情的严重性将成为巨大的激励因素，促使各种改善西非医疗基础设施的项目开展下去，维持这样的努力将是另一个问题。”

Dr. Hassad warned the lack of emphasis given to epidemiology in the Ebola outbreak until now could mean it will continue through most of the year.

哈萨德警告说，到目前为止，埃博拉爆发中对流行病学重视不够的现状意味着，在今年的大部分时间里，这场疫情还将继续存在下去。