VOA慢速英语2020--刚果民主共和国使用疫苗防治麻疹

The face of Dobo Mambanza is blistered² as she fights to breathe. The little girl is crying and, slowly, going blind.

Her mother holds three-year-old Dobo in her arms at a health center in northern Democratic Republic of Congo. Here, doctors are working hard to contain a deadly virus.

Dobo does not have the new coronavirus or Ebola virus disease. She has measles³. This preventable but extremely infectious disease has moved quickly through the country since early 2019.

Measles has killed about 6,400 people, official reports show, but healthcare workers say the number is much higher. Reporting rates are very low.

Dobo's mother Wanea Mabele spoke⁴ to the Reuters news agency. She said, "I feel guilty because I'm afraid people might say it's because I didn't get my daughter treatment quickly."

Mabele is hardly to blame. Congo's government has delayed vaccine⁵ campaigns because of a lack of money. That has left millions of children without protection for measles.

Health workers say there is also a problem with poor quality vaccines⁶, leaving thousands at risk in a country of 81 million people.

Coronavirus, Ebola redirect attention

Health officials have sent hundreds of millions of dollars and workers to eastern Congo to fight a 19-month outbreak of Ebola. That disease has killed over 2,000 people. The number of new cases is finally decreasing, just as COVID-19, the disease from the new coronavirus, arrives.

After a first coronavirus case in the capital Kinshasa this month, reported infections rose to 18 by last weekend.

"Priority will be given to COVID-19 in the coming weeks or months depending on the trend of the disease," said Vincent Sodjinou. He leads the anti-measles effort in Congo for the World Heath Organization (WHO).

Measles is on the rise around the world, but Congo is worst hit. Measles is caused by a virus. It can pass from one person to another when the carrier coughs or sneezes. The disease carries risks of brain damage, blindness and deafness.

The hospital where Dobo is being treated lies deep in the forest. The nearest paved road is 125 kilometers to the south, in the city of Lisala.

Keeping vaccines cool for the trip from Kinshasa is important, but difficult. On a recent vaccination⁷ campaign, medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF, flew 2,700 containers to Lisala in large, cool boxes.

In Lisala, the boxes were tied to the back of motorbikes for the 10-hour trip to the hospital. MSF workers said the vaccines remained at the correct temperature for the ride.

Helping⁸ the children

Congo's government has year-long vaccination campaigns, but they did not target high risk areas until October 2019. When the government vaccines finally did come, health workers say some may have overheated.

Official reports suggest 100 percent of children have been vaccinated⁹ in the area, said Mushadi Gidion, a local official from the health ministry¹⁰.

But that number comes from a population count in 1984. Health workers do not know how many children need the vaccination.

Measles vaccines normally have an effectiveness rate of 85 percent. But the vaccines are less effective in children who do not have a good, healthy diet. Poorly-trained health workers also can reduce their effectiveness.

"There can be many causes that can lead to the epidemic," Mushadi said. "Perhaps our vaccination campaign was not of high quality."

Words in This Story

blister¹ - n. area of the skin covered by a bubble of liquid

outbreak - n. the sudden appearance of disease

priority - n. the thing that is most important

trend - n. the direction something is going or hanging to

motorbike - n. a two-wheeled motorized vehicle

pave - v. to cover dirt with a solid material

deafness - n. to be unable to hear

cough - n. releasing irritation¹¹ in the throat

sneeze - n. expelling air from the nose

1 blister   

n.水疱；(油漆等的)气泡；v.(使)起泡

参考例句：

• I got a huge blister on my foot and I couldn't run any farther.我脚上长了一个大水泡，没办法继续跑。
• I have a blister on my heel because my shoe is too tight.鞋子太紧了，我脚后跟起了个泡。

2 blistered   

adj.水疮状的，泡状的v.（使）起水泡( blister的过去式和过去分词 )；（使表皮等）涨破，爆裂

参考例句：

• He had a blistered heel. 他的脚后跟起了泡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Their hands blistered, but no one complained. 他们手起了泡，可是没有一个人有怨言。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 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。

6 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

10 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。

11 irritation   

n.激怒，恼怒，生气

参考例句：

• He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
• Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说，但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。