VOA慢速英语2015 移动设备在几分钟内可以检测出HIV和梅毒病毒

AS IT IS 2015-04-07 Mobile Device Diagnoses HIV, Syphilis in Minutes 移动设备在几分钟内可以检测出HIV和梅毒病毒

Diagnosing sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, require costly¹ tests. Poor patients living in rural areas are even less likely to be able to receive such tests. So, researchers have developed a mobile phone device that may make the tests less costly and more available. The researchers say the device tells health care workers within 15 minutes whether someone is infected with HIV or syphilis.

Scientists at Columbia University in New York developed the small electronic device to attach to any smartphone. Biomedical engineer Sam Sia is one of the developers of the device, called a dongle. He says the dongle detects the biological markers for both HIV and syphilis and shows the results on the smartphone. Mr. Sia adds that early diagnosis² may be a matter of life and death to patients such as pregnant women in rural parts of Africa.

Health care workers can send the test results to a wireless³ information storage system to give doctors easy access to the disease diagnoses.  Immediate treatment of HIV and syphilis can stop the spread of the potentially deadly illnesses.

All of the chemicals used for testing are in small plastic containers that can be used only one time.  The device analyzes⁵ blood taken from a small cut on the finger.

The dongle was tested on 96 pregnant women in Rwanda. The women were at high risk of passing HIV and syphilis on to their babies. The results of the test were highly accurate. The dongle costs about $34 dollars. Each test container is about $1.50. This is far less than the $18,000 cost for the equipment needed to do a similar blood test in a laboratory.

It took 30 minutes to train Rwandan health care workers how to the use the device. Sam Sia says the dongle makes the smartphone test especially useful in developing countries. He says that health care workers can use the tests in a clinic or in rural areas where patients live. He adds that the dongles could also be used to test for diseases such as hepatitis, herpes, and malaria⁶.

Words in This Story

accurate – adj. free from mistakes or errors

analyze⁴ – v. to study something closely and carefully; to learn the nature and relationship of the parts of something by a close and careful examination

diagnose – v. to recognize a disease, illness, etc. by examining someone

Mr. Sia and his research team are preparing for a larger test of the device that the World Health Organization requires for approval.

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 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。

3 wireless   

adj.无线的；n.无线电

参考例句：

• There are a lot of wireless links in a radio.收音机里有许多无线电线路。
• Wireless messages tell us that the ship was sinking.无线电报告知我们那艘船正在下沉。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 analyzes   

v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• This approach analyzes management by studying experience usually through cases. 这个学派通常从实例获得经验，用以分析管理。 来自辞典例句
• The econometrician analyzes statistical data. 经济计量学者要分析统计材料。 来自辞典例句

6 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。