VOA慢速英语20060130a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - WHO Warns Against Misuse¹ of Malaria² DrugBy Jill Moss³

Broadcast: Monday, January 30, 2006

This is Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Health Organization is warning people not to use only one drug to treat malaria. That drug is artemisinin. W.H.O. officials say people should take it only in combination with other malaria drugs. The fear is that artemisinin could lose its effectiveness if it is misused⁴.

Arata Kochi is the new director of the malaria department at the W.H.O., the United Nations health agency. He says: If we lose artemisinin, we will no longer have an effective cure for malaria. And if that happens, he says, it might take at least ten years before a new one could be discovered.


Doctor Arata Kochi

Drug combinations are also used to treat diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis⁵. Experts say combination treatments are not only more successful than single-drug, or monotherapy. They also slow the development of resistance to medicines. The organisms that cause malaria have already developed resistance to many other drugs.

The W.H.O. has called on eighteen drug manufacturers to immediately halt the sale of artemisinin by itself. The companies are in China, India, Vietnam and other countries.

The health agency cannot force them to obey. But there are steps it could take to pressure companies that continue to sell artemisinin as a monotherapy. For example, the W.H.O. could urge the World Bank, the Global Fund and other agencies not to buy drugs from those companies.

Artemisinin comes from a plant called the sweet wormwood. Chinese researchers discovered it more than thirty years ago. The W.H.O. says artemisinin is more than ninety-five percent effective in curing malaria when used correctly with other anti-malarial drugs.

Doctor Kochi says there have been no documented cases yet where treatment failed because of resistance to artemisinin. But he says there is concern about decreased reaction to the drug in Southeast Asia. That area is traditionally where resistance to anti-malaria drugs has first appeared.

Malaria produces high body temperatures and a dangerous loss of fluids. The W.H.O. estimates there are more than three hundred million cases of malaria in the world each year. At least one million people die. Nine out of ten deaths happen in African countries south of the Sahara Desert. Most of the victims are young children.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. Read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. This is Shep O'Neal.

1 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

2 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

3 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

4 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。