VOA慢速英语2020 废水也能用于研究新冠病毒？！（在线收听）

Scientific researchers and health officials say they can follow an outbreak of the novel coronavirus in a community by examining its wastewater.

科学研究人员和卫生官员说，他们可以通过检测一个社区的废水来追踪新型冠状病毒的爆发。 

Such studies could provide a valuable addition to the tools of public health agencies, they say.

他们说，这类研究可以为公共卫生机构的研究提供有价值的补充。 

The idea is simple.

这个原理很简单。 

Studies show that genetic material from the coronavirus can be found in the waste products of about half of patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.

研究表明，约半数新冠病毒感染者的排泄物中可以发现冠状病毒的遗传物质。 

Researchers can find that genetic material by doing wastewater analysis.

研究人员可以通过检测废水来寻找遗传物质。 

Over time, such tests can show changes in infection rates in a community.

随着时间的推移，这种检测可以显示社区感染率的变化。 

It should be noted that the analysis includes wastewater from people who might not otherwise be counted.

值得注意的是，该分析包括了可能不被计算在内的人排出的废水。 

Examples include people who do not get tested for the virus or do not know they are infected.

例如，没有接受病毒检测或不知道自己被感染的人。 

The analysis can provide early warning signs of a community outbreak before people get sick enough to go to the hospital, studies show.

研究表明，这些分析可以在人们生病到去医院就诊之前，提供社区爆发的早期预警信号。 

One Dutch study found evidence of the coronavirus in wastewater six days before the community reported its first cases.

荷兰的一项研究在社区报告第一例病例的六天前就在废水中发现了冠状病毒的踪迹。 

Gertjan Medema is a microbiologist at the KWR Water Research Institute in the Netherlands.

Gertjan Medema是荷兰KWR水研究所的微生物学家。 

Sewage can be used as "a mirror of society," he said."Sewage is more than just a wastewater carrier, its also an information carrier."

他说，污水可以被用作“社会的一面镜子”。“污水不仅仅是废水的载体，也是信息的载体。” 

Vince Hill is chief of the waterborne disease prevention office at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, in the United States.He described sewage monitoring as "a very promising tool."

文斯·希尔是美国疾病控制和预防中心水传播疾病预防办公室的负责人。他称污水监测是“一种非常有前途的工具”。

The CDC is now working to understand how useful it can be."There is a lot to learn," Hill said. "Were working on this with urgency."

疾控中心现在正在努力了解它有多有用。希尔说:“需要学习的东西很多。我们正在加紧工作。” 

Wastewater has long been used to look for signs of the polio virus.With the new coronavirus, scientists are working to improve their test methods.

长期以来，废水一直被用来寻找脊髓灰质炎病毒的迹象。随着新冠病毒的出现，科学家们正在努力改进他们的检测方法。

The Dutch, British and Italian governments have announced monitoring programs.

荷兰、英国和意大利政府已经宣布了监测计划。 

"We can detect the virus anonymously, quickly and on a large scale," said Dutch health minister Hugo de Jonge.

荷兰卫生部长雨果·德容格表示：“我们可以匿名、快速、大规模地检测病毒。” 

In the United States, results from a two-month-long wastewater test helped persuade Utah officials to approve a larger effort that will include wastewater from 75% of the states residents.

在美国，为期两个月的废水测试结果帮助说服犹他州官员批准了一项更大的计划，该计划将检测该州75%居民的废水。

That information came from Erica Gaddis, director of the states Division of Water Quality.

这一消息来自该州水质部门主任艾丽卡·加迪斯。 

Utah is not the only state to show interest in wastewater monitoring.

犹他州并不是唯一对废水监测感兴趣的州。 

When the Massachusetts company Biobot said on social media that it would test wastewater for free,"it just kind of exploded," said its chief Marian Martus.

马萨诸塞州的Biobot公司在社交媒体上说，它将免费检测废水。该公司首席执行官玛丽安·马图斯说，“废水有点爆炸了。”

The company took on 400 wastewater processing centers in 42 states.

该公司在42个州拥有400个废水处理中心。 

That represents waste from about 10 percent of the U.S. population, Martus noted.

马图斯指出，这涵盖了10%的美国人口的废水。 

The company now charges for its service, she said,and still has hundreds of people who send in water samples of about 150 milliliters.

她说，该公司现在收取服务费，但仍然有数百人送来150毫升左右的水样。 

The company does not yet have an exact way to show how many infected people are living in a community.But Biobot gives estimates, Martus said.

该公司还没有确切的方法来显示一个社区中有多少感染者。但Biobot给出了估计，马图斯说。 

Peter Grevatt is the head of The Water Research Foundation.He said researchers are still working to make sure "weve got the science right."

彼得·格里瓦特是水研究基金会的负责人。他说，研究人员仍在努力确保“该科学的正确性”。 

Experts say there are many things that are unknown about wastewater analysis.For example: How can laboratory results produced by different testing methods be compared?And how are samples affected by different sewage systems?

专家说，在废水分析方面还有很多未知的东西。例如：如何比较不同检测方法产生的实验室结果?不同的污水处理系统对样本有何影响?

Im John Russell.

约翰·罗素报道。