VOA健康报道2024--Britain Reports Four New Mpox Cases

 

British health officials say they have identified four cases of the new, highly infectious version of mpox that first appeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The announcement marks the first time the variant¹ has caused a group of illnesses outside of Africa. Scientists said the risk to the public remains² low.

Officials announced the first case of the new form of mpox in Britain last week. Officials said the person who was being treated at a London hospital had recently travelled to countries in Africa with ongoing³ outbreaks.

This week, the British Health Security Agency said it had now identified three additional cases. All of them lived in the same household as the first patient. The new cases are also being treated at a hospital in London.

Susan Hopkins is chief medical advisor⁴ of the British Health Security Agency. She said, "Mpox is very infectious in households with close contact and so it is not unexpected to see further cases within the same household."

The new variant of mpox was first reported earlier this year in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC. Scientists believe it causes milder symptoms that are harder to notice. As a result, it might be easier to spread because people may not know they are infected. Its spread in the DRC and in other parts of Africa caused the World Health Organization to declare the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in August.

Britain recorded more than 3,000 cases of another version of mpox during a 2022 outbreak that affected⁵ more than 100 countries.

The new variant of mpox has also caused outbreaks in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Single cases in travelers have also been reported in Sweden, India, Germany and Thailand.

To date, there have been about 43,000 suspect cases of mpox in Africa, including more than 1,000 deaths, mostly in the DRC.

On Wednesday, the WHO said it had given about 900,000 vaccine⁶ doses to nine African countries struggling with mpox epidemics⁷.

Words in This Story

variant - n. something that is different in some way from others of the same kind

symptom -n. a sign that disease might be present

dose -n. the amount of a medicine that is needed to cure or treat a health problem

1 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 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。

4 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

6 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。

7 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。