VOA慢速英语2020 在线症状检查器的准确度有多高？

Many internet tools seek to identify what disease a person has based on symptoms described by the user. A new study finds these online symptom checkers are rarely correct and could be harmful.

许多互联网工具试图根据用户描述的症状来诊断此人患上了什么疾病。一项新的研究发现，这些在线症状检查器很少是正确的，并且可能对身体有害。

Australian researchers at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia did the study. Their results were published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

澳大利亚珀斯市伊迪丝·考恩大学的研究人员进行了这项研究。他们的研究结果发表在《澳大利亚医学期刊》上。

Online symptom checkers are commonly found through major search engines. Google, for example, gets an estimated 70,000 health-related searches every minute.

在线症状检查器可以通过主流搜索引擎找到。例如谷歌每分钟大概有7万次与健康相关的搜索。

The study examined 36 international internet-based symptom checkers. The tools ask a series of questions about the symptoms users are experiencing and then use that information to identify conditions the users might suffer from.

这项研究审查了国际上36家基于互联网的症状检查器。这些工具会询问关于用户现有症状的一系列问题，然后利用这些信息来诊断用户可能患上的疾病。

Some tools also advise users on whether to seek medical attention.

一些工具还会建议用户是否需要就医。

The study found that overall, symptom checkers produced the correct diagnosis¹ as the first result 36 percent of the time. The tools predicted the right diagnosis within the top three results 52 percent of the time.

该研究发现，总体上症状检查器第一次做出正确诊断的几率是36%。这些工具在前三次内作出正确诊断的几率是52%。

Michella Hill is a student at Edith Cowan and a leader of the research. She says the findings demonstrate why users should be very careful about using the systems for diagnostic purposes. "While it may be tempting² to use these tools to find out what may be causing your symptoms, most of the time they are unreliable at best and can be dangerous at worst," Hill said.

米凯拉·希尔是伊迪丝·考恩大学的一名学生，也是这项研究的负责人。她说，这项研究结果表明了为何用户在使用该系统进行诊断时应格外谨慎。希尔表示：“虽然使用这类工具找出潜在病因可能会很吸引人，但是大多数时候，它们在最好的情况下是不可靠的，而在最坏的情况下可能会很危险。”

She said one of the main problems with online symptom checkers is that they depend on too little information. "They do not look at the whole picture -- they don't know your medical history or other symptoms."

她说，在线症状检查器的主要问题之一是它们依赖的信息太少。“它们不会考虑全局，他们不知道你的病史或事其它症状。”

Hill added: "For people who lack health knowledge, they may think the advice they're given is accurate, or that their condition is not serious, when it may be."

希尔还说：“对于缺乏健康知识的人来说，他们可能会认为在线症状检查器给出的建议是准确的，或者症状并不严重。”

The Australian study did find the symptom checkers produced more accurate results for advice on when and where users should seek medical attention. The advice for emergency and serious medical cases was correct about 60 percent of the time. That number dropped to 30-40 percent accuracy for non-emergencies.

这项澳大利亚的研究确实发现了症状检查器在建议用户何时何地寻求医疗服务时产生了更准确的结果。对紧急或严重医疗案例的建议在60%的时候是正确的。对于非紧急情况，准确度下降到了30%到40%。

Hill said she does think online symptom tools can effectively fill a need in the modern health system. "These sites are not a replacement³ for going to the doctor, but they can be useful in providing more information once you do have an official diagnosis," she said.

希尔表示，她确实认为在线症状工具可以有效满足现代卫生系统的需求。她说：“这些网站并不能取代看医生，但是一旦你得到正式诊断，它们可以提供更多信息。”

Internet searches related to information about the new coronavirus topped all others in recent months on Google, the Google Trends website reports. Many users have also turned to Google for information on virus symptoms.

据谷歌趋势网站报告称，最近几个月谷歌网站上新冠病毒相关信息的搜索量要高于其它所有信息的搜索量。很多用户还到谷歌网站上查找关于这种病毒症状的信息。

The top-searched coronavirus symptom by far over the past four months was fever, Google Trends shows. This was followed by sore throat, shortness of breath, loss of taste and loss of smell.

谷歌趋势显示，过去4个月搜索最多的新冠病毒症状是发烧，其次是喉咙痛、呼吸急促、味觉丧失和嗅觉丧失。

Google also provides a tool for users to check their symptoms related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The company says the tool is designed "for informational purposes only," and not meant to provide a medical diagnosis.

谷歌还为用户提供了一个工具，用于检查其新冠肺炎相关症状，新冠肺炎由新冠病毒引起的一种疾病。该公司表示，该工具旨在“仅提供参考，”并不意味着是提供医学诊断。

The World Health Organization (WHO) said earlier this month it is planning to launch its own symptom checking tool. A WHO official told the Reuters news agency the wireless⁴ device tool is expected to be popular in countries lacking their own development resources.

世卫组织本月初声称计划推出自己的症状检查工具。一位世卫组织官员对路透社表示，这种无线设备工具有望在缺乏自身开发资源的国家中流行。

Engineers and designers – including former Google and Microsoft employees – have been volunteering their time to develop the WHO app, Reuters reported.

据路透社报道，包括谷歌和微软前员工在内的工程师和设计师一直在自愿投入时间来研发世卫组织的应用程序。

1 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。

2 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

3 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

4 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。