SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Killer Virus Brought Back From the Pas

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Killer¹ Virus Brought Back From the Past, With the Hope to Avoid a New One
By Cynthia Kirk and Caty Weaver²

Broadcast: Tuesday, October 18, 2005

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Pat Bodnar.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Bob Doughty³. This week on our show: A vaccine⁴ to prevent cervical cancer could be a step closer to market ...

VOICE ONE:

 
Photo from the National Museum of Health & Medicine shows an emergency hospital in Kansas during the 1918 flu pandemic
Scientists reproduce the nineteen eighteen flu virus at a time of worry about a future outbreak of influenza⁵ ...

VOICE TWO:

And, the World Bank has some money to give away for projects to help the poor.

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VOICE ONE:

Scientists have found similarities between the Asian bird flu known as h-five-n-one and the influenza of nineteen eighteen.

Recently, scientists recreated the so-called Spanish flu in a laboratory in the United States. They wanted to learn how the virus killed so many people. An estimated twenty million to fifty million people worldwide died of the flu. Most were under sixty-five years old.

What scientists learn about the virus could lead to new vaccines⁶ and treatments for future outbreaks of influenza.

VOICE TWO:

A worldwide outbreak of disease is a pandemic. Public health officials worry that the h-five-n-one virus could cause the next flu pandemic.

The World Health Organization reported one hundred seventeen confirmed cases by October tenth. These were in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. Sixty of the people died, forty-one of them in Vietnam.

Experts say wild birds have spread the virus as they migrate from one area to another. The current outbreak began in two thousand three. It has spread across Asia to the edge of Europe.

VOICE ONE:

So far, most of the victims had been around infected birds. But the virus could mix with human flu if a person or an animal, such as a pig, gets infected with both. There is concern that the bird flu will change into a form that spreads easily from person to person. The W.H.O. says millions could die within months.

Experts say there are currently not enough supplies of anti-viral medicines and vaccines to deal with a severe outbreak.

Public health officials worry that they are in a race against time to prepare. No one can be sure when a flu pandemic will strike, or how severe it will be. A pandemic develops when people have little or no natural resistance to a new virus. The last pandemic involved the Hong Kong flu in nineteen sixty-eight. One million people died.

Influenza is normally most dangerous to the elderly and to young children. Yet many of those who died from the nineteen eighteen virus had been healthy people age fifteen to thirty-four.

VOICE TWO:

The scientists who reproduced the nineteen eighteen virus say their findings confirm that it started in birds. Bird flu usually mixes with human flu before it begins to spread from person to person. However, the one in nineteen eighteen apparently⁷ defeated the body's defense⁸ system and jumped directly to humans.

A research team spent ten years studying the genetics of the virus. They used pieces of tissue from three people who died of the flu between nineteen eighteen and nineteen nineteen.

Two were American soldiers. The third was an Inuit woman whose frozen body was found in Alaska in nineteen ninety-seven.

VOICE ONE:

The scientists collected enough genetic¹⁰ information to identify the eight genes¹¹ in the virus. They used a process called reverse genetics to combine the genes and recreate the virus.

They tested the virus on chicken embryos¹², mice and human lung cells. Tests showed that the Spanish flu virus was much more aggressive than other flu viruses. It killed the mice and the chicken embryos. It also grew very quickly in the human lung cells.

Human flu viruses generally kill only humans. And they normally grow much slower in lung cells.

The scientists noted¹³ that the current bird flu virus has made some of the same changes as the nineteen eighteen virus did. Experts say watching for such changes may help scientists learn how to prevent a major outbreak.

The researchers also discovered that removing a gene⁹ in the remade virus weakened it. This gene could be a target for new drugs or vaccine development.

VOICE TWO:

Reports about the work appeared this month in the publications Nature and Science. Scientists recreated the virus in August at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The team included researchers from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. It also included scientists from the United States Department of Agriculture.

Some people are concerned about the public health risk of recreating such a deadly virus. But health officials argue that the risk is low. They say the knowledge to be gained outweighs¹⁴ the risk of accidental release or possible misuse¹⁵. They say people now have some natural defenses against the virus. And they note that doctors now have anti-viral drugs that did not exist in nineteen eighteen.

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VOICE ONE:

You are listening to SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, from Washington.

Health experts say almost three hundred thousand women die from cervical cancer each year, mostly in developing countries. The cervix is part of the female reproductive system. It is the opening at the end of the uterus.

The most common causes of cervical cancer are two forms of human papilloma virus. H.P.V. is spread through sexual activity.

The two forms linked to an estimated seventy percent of cervical cancers are called H.P.V. sixteen and H.P.V eighteen. They are responsible for growths that can lead to cervical cancer. Now, the drug company Merck is reporting highly successful results in tests of a vaccine to protect against these two forms.

VOICE TWO:

Merck calls its experimental vaccine Gardasil. The results just reported came from tests with twelve thousand females in thirteen countries. They were between the ages of sixteen and twenty-six. They were not infected with H.P.V. sixteen or eighteen when they joined the study.

Half received three injections of Gardasil over six months. The other half received an inactive substance -- a placebo¹⁶. The study subjects did not know which they received, the vaccine or the placebo. They were then observed for an average of seventeen months.

VOICE ONE:

Merck says there were no cases of cancer linked to H.P.V. sixteen and eighteen in the group that received the vaccine. This compared to twenty-one cases in the placebo group.

The researchers say even one treatment with the vaccine provided protection. Merck reported a ninety-seven percent protection rate among women after just one injection of Gardasil.

The findings were reported in San Francisco, California, at the yearly meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. The researchers did note that they are not sure how long the vaccine would provide protection.

Cervical cancer develops slowly, usually over a period of ten or twenty years. It is one of the most common cancers in women. Young, sexually active women are especially at risk of the disease.

Cervical cancer can be treated with success, especially if found early. It can also be prevented if a Pap test finds pre-cancerous conditions.

VOICE TWO:

Merck says it will seek approval for Gardasil from the United States Food and Drug Administration before the end of the year. Merck says it hopes to have the product on the market sometime next year. Drug maker¹⁷ GlaxoSmithKline has been testing a competing vaccine for cervical cancer.

Gardasil, if approved, could be good news financially for Merck. The company faces about five thousand civil cases over its painkiller¹⁸ Vioxx. Merck withdrew Vioxx from sale last year. Tests showed that the drug for arthritis¹⁹ pain could increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

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VOICE ONE:

The World Bank is offering as much as two hundred thousand dollars for projects to improve the lives of the poor. The projects must involve creative ways to bring water, waste control or energy services to areas in developing countries. The World Bank says it has four million dollars to give away to entrepreneurs through its Development Marketplace competition.

Proposals must be made through the Internet at developmentmarketplace, all one word, dot o-r-g. The last day for proposals is November thirtieth. Winners will be announced in Washington in May.

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VOICE TWO:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Caty Weaver, Jill Moss²⁰ and Cynthia Kirk who was also our producer. I'm Pat Bodnar.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Bob Doughty. Our programs are on the Web at www.tingroom.com. Join us again next week for more news about science, in Special English on the Voice of America.

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

3 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

4 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。

5 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

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 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

8 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

9 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

10 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

11 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

12 embryos   

n.晶胚；胚，胚胎( embryo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Somatic cells of angiosperms enter a regenerative phase and behave like embryos. 被子植物体细胞进入一个生殖阶段，而且其行为象胚。 来自辞典例句
• Evolution can explain why human embryos look like gilled fishes. 进化论能够解释为什么人类的胚胎看起来象除去了内脏的鱼一样。 来自辞典例句

13 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

14 outweighs   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的第三人称单数 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• Her need to save money outweighs her desire to spend it on fun. 她省钱的需要比她花钱娱乐的愿望更重要。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Its clarity in algebraic and analytical operations far outweighs any drawbacks. 文化代数和解析运算中的清晰性远远胜过任何缺点。 来自辞典例句

15 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

16 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

17 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

18 painkiller   

n.止痛药

参考例句：

• I shall persuade him to take the painkiller.我将说服他把药吃下去。
• The painkiller only provides him a short respite from his pain.止痛药仅仅让他在疼痛中有短暂的疏解。

19 arthritis   

n.关节炎

参考例句：

• Rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked with the virus.风湿性关节炎也与这种病毒有关。
• He spent three months in the hospital with acute rheumatic arthritis.他患急性风湿性关节炎，在医院住了三个月。

20 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。