A New Treatment to Fight Lymphatic1 Filariasis2

 

Broadcast: Feb 17, 2003
By Jill Moss¹

This the VOA Special English Development Report.

Researchers have discovered a successful new treatment to fight lymphatic filariasis around the world. This disease is commonly known as elephantiasis3. It is the leading cause of permanent4 or long-term disabilities in developing countries.

More than one-hundred-twenty-million people in eighty countries have been infected with lymphatic filariasis. Most of the victims are in poor nations in Africa, Asia, South America and islands of the Pacific Ocean. A parasite5 organism causes the disease. Signs of the disease include huge enlargement of the legs, arms, breasts and reproductive organs.

Lymphatic filariasis is spread to humans through the bite of a mosquito insect infected with the parasite². Once infected, humans can pass the parasite back to mosquitoes when bitten again. Researchers began studying how the parasite is spread several years ago.

Jim Kazura of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio led the research. He said killing³ the adult female parasite would prevent the development of new parasites⁴ in either humans or mosquitoes. To test this theory, scientists created a special medicine to kill the female parasite. Scientists have tested the drug in the laboratory. But its effectiveness on humans has not been confirmed until now.

Doctor Kazura and his team of researchers tested the drug recently in Papua New Guinea. They gave the drug to two-thousand-five-hundred people living in unpopulated areas of the country. The people were injected with the drug every year for four years. Scientists found that the spread of lymphatic filariasis dropped by more than ninety-five percent. They also discovered that the treatment reduced the enlargement of the arms, legs and reproductive organs. Doctors had thought this was a permanent condition.

The study's results were published in December in the New England Journal of Medicine. A separate opinion by an independent doctor was also included. It said Doctor Kazura's research proves that a World Health Organization campaign to end lymphatic filariasis is possible. The WHO campaign was launched in nineteen-ninety-seven. Health officials hope to end the disease around the world by the year twenty-twenty.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.

1. lymphatic [lIm5fAtIk] adj. 含淋巴的，淋巴腺的
2. filariasis [7fIl[5raI[sIs] n. 丝虫病
3. elephantiasis [7elIf[n5taI[sIs] n. 象皮病
4. permanent [5p[:m[n[nt] adj. 永久的。持久的
5. parasite [5pAr[saIt] n. 寄生虫，食客

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

2 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。