VOA慢速英语--世卫组织称每天有一百万人受到性感染

WHO: A Million People a Day Get Sexual Infections

Every day, more than a million people around the world get a sexually transmitted infection, the World Health Organization said last week. It added that rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea, trichomoniasis and syphilis are especially worrying.

The majority of the infections are easily preventable and curable. But in a new report, the WHO said that some diseases - especially gonorrhea – are changing over time into so-called super-bug forms. That makes them increasingly difficult to treat with drugs, or antibiotics².

“Sexually transmitted infections are everywhere. They are far more common than we think,” said Teodora Wi, a medical officer in the WHO’s department for reproductive health and research.

The WHO’s report shows that, among men and women between the ages of 15 and 49, there were 127 million new cases of chlamydia in 2016, 87 million of gonorrhea, 6.3 million of syphilis and 156 million of trichomoniasis.

The WHO based its report on 2016 data, the latest available worldwide information.

?Sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, are a “persistent³ and endemic health threat worldwide,” the WHO said in its report. This means they are ongoing⁴ and difficult to stop. The WHO also said that STIs have a great effect on both adult and child health.

If STIs are left untreated, they can lead to serious, long-term health effects. These include heart and nervous systems diseases, pregnancy-related problems and an increased risk of HIV. An untreated STI also increases the chance of stillbirths -- babies being born dead.

Syphilis alone caused an estimated 200,000 stillbirths and newborn deaths in 2016. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of baby loss worldwide, the research found.

Peter Salama is the WHO’s director for universal health coverage⁵. He said the data showed the need for “a concerted effort” to make sure everyone, everywhere, can get the services they need to prevent and treat these diseases.

Sexual infections caused by bacteria can normally be treated and cured with widely available medicines. But recent shortages in the supply of the drug benzathine penicillin⁶ made it more difficult to control syphilis, the WHO study said. Rising drug resistance to gonorrhea treatments is another growing health threat.

Tim Jinks is an infectious disease specialist at Britain’s Wellcome Trust global health charity. He told the Reuters news agency that the increase in cases of STIs was alarming, especially because some antibiotics appear to be getting less effective.

“The high numbers of cases of gonorrhea are of particular concern,” he wrote in an email. “We are increasingly seeing incidences of so-called ‘super-gonorrhea’ which are practically impossible to treat.”

The study and data appear online in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization.

I’m Anne Ball.

Words in This Story

super-bug – n. bacteria that resists most antibiotic¹ medicines used today

antibiotics – n. a drug that is used to kill harmful bacteria and to cure infections

transmit – v. to cause (a virus, disease, etc.) to be given to others

persistent – adj. continuing beyond the usual, expected, or normal time : not stopping or going away

endemic – adj. growing or existing in a certain place or region

concerted – adj. done in a planned and deliberate way usually by several or many people

global – adj. involving the entire world

charity – n. an organization that helps people who are poor and sick

alarming – adj. to cause (someone) to feel a sense of danger : to worry or frighten (someone)

incidence – n. the number of times something happens or develops : the rate at which something occurs

1 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

2 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

3 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

6 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。