VOA慢速英语2012 Health Report - Uganda Fights Another Ebola Outbreak

 

Health Report - Uganda Fights Another Ebola Outbreak

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Uganda's latest outbreak of Ebola virus is the fourth in recent years. About two hundred people died in the biggest outbreak, in two thousand. Thirty-seven people died in the last outbreak in two thousand seven.

Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever -- it can lead to bleeding inside and outside the body. Symptoms of the disease include high fever, vomiting¹ and sometimes diarrhea. Other signs include weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat.

Ebola spreads through contact with blood or other body fluids of infected people. The virus is often deadly. There is no cure, and no vaccine² to prevent the disease.

On Monday, President Yoweri Museveni urged Ugandans to report all suspected cases of Ebola. He also urged people to limit their physical contact -- even shaking hands.

YOWERI MUSEVENI: "We discourage the shaking of hands because that can cause contact through sweat, which can cause problems. And when people are sick in hospitals, with symptoms which look like Ebola, they should be handled by medical workers wearing protective gear."

President Museveni also warned people to let medical workers bury suspected Ebola victims.

YOWERI MUSEVENI: "Please do not take on the job of burying him, or her. Call the medical workers to be the ones to do it because they are the ones who can do it safely."

Most of the cases in the latest outbreak have been reported in western Uganda. A World Health Organization official said the first cases in July were mistaken at first for cholera³. But Denis Lwamafa from Uganda's Ministry⁴ of Health says Uganda has improved its ability to identify cases of Ebola.

DENIS LWAMAFA: "Uganda now is probably at the forefront, in terms of handling viral hemorrhagic fevers, on the continent of Africa. So this is now an indigenous⁵ local capacity of which we must take note. We've been able to elevate the level of proficiency⁶ in diagnosing even these highly infectious organisms here in Uganda, and I would like to report that the diagnosis⁷ of the Ebola virus was done here."

Mr. Lwamafa said that although the disease is also found in nearby countries, outbreaks are not always identified.

DENIS LWAMAFA: "In other countries, especially in some of the neighboring countries, many times Ebola goes unrecognized, and other times is goes unreported, because it has the capacity to burn itself out. In some of the neighboring states, Ebola comes and wipes out even whole villages, and after a certain time, because there is nobody else to infect, it dies out."

Ebola fever is named after a river near the first recognized outbreak. That was in nineteen seventy-six in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report.  I'm Jim Tedder⁸.

1 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

2 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

3 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

4 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

7 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

8 tedder   

n.（干草）翻晒者，翻晒机

参考例句：

• Jim Tedder has more. 吉姆？特德将给我们做更多的介绍。 来自互联网
• Jim Tedder tells us more. 吉姆？泰德给我们带来更详细的报道。 来自互联网