WHO Confirms Bird Flu Virus Caused Human Deaths in Vietnam

WHO Confirms Bird Flu Virus Caused Human Deaths in Vietnam

 

Katherine Maria

The World Health Organization has confirmed that at least three people have died of bird flu in Vietnam, the same virus that first emerged in Hong Kong in 1997 and killed six people. Hundreds of thousands of chickens have been infected by the disease in Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.

Tests carried out in Hong Kong confirmed Tuesday that a woman and two children in Vietnam were killed by a strain of bird flu.

The World Health Organization says the virus, H5-N1, is the same one that suddenly jumped from chickens to humans in 1997, killing¹ six of the 13 people it infected in Hong Kong.

Peter Cordingly, regional spokesman for the WHO, says the latest human victims probably caught the disease directly from sick chickens. "There's no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission, the poultry² is likely to be the common element here rather than the virus being passed between members of the family. Humans are very susceptible³ to this disease."

Samples from three other Vietnamese children who died mysteriously over the past four months are still being tested. But the WHO says Vietnam health authorities have detected at least 14 possible cases. Most of them have died.

Hundreds of thousands of chickens have been infected in Vietnam, and the government has asked the U.N. agency to help it contain the disease. About a 100,000 chickens have been culled⁵ there to prevent the virus from spreading.

In South Korea, over a million chickens have either died from the flu or been culled. Japan on Monday reported its first outbreak of H5-N1, with about 6,000 chickens infected. Officials in Thailand say a form of bird cholera⁶ is killing chickens at some poultry farms there, but denied there has been a bird flu outbreak.

When the link between sick chickens and the H5-N1 virus in humans was discovered in Hong Kong in 1997, the government ordered all chickens in the city killed. They also suspended imports of birds from mainland China. The measures apparently⁷ contained the disease then.

Bird flu has sporadically⁸ reappeared and killed chickens in Hong Kong and southern China for years. Two people were infected in China last year and died after seeking treatment in Hong Kong.

The WHO says H5-N1 is a fast-moving influenza⁹ virus, which can be deadly just hours after infecting a person.

This latest health scare comes as the region is bracing¹⁰ for a possible outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome¹¹. At least one person in southern China is confirmed to have SARS recently - the first case in China since July, but there are a few other suspected cases.

 

注释：

World Health Organization   世界卫生组织

bird flu  禽流感

virus [5vaiErEs] n. （微）病毒

strain [strein] n. 种，变种

H5-N1  禽流感病毒的一种，是H5病毒的一种变种。这种病毒将来自H5的基因与来自另一种禽流感N1的基因合二为一。

transmission [trAnz5miFEn] n. 转播

poultry [5pEultri] n. 家禽

susceptible [sE5septEbl] adj. 易受影响的

contain [kEn5tein] vt. 阻止……扩张，控制

cull⁴ [kQl] v. 挑出而杀死

cholera [5kClErE] n. （医）霍乱

suspend [sEs5pend] vt. 暂停，暂缓

sporadically [spE5rAdikEli] adv. 偶发地，零星地

scare [skZE] n. 恐慌，恐惧

brace¹² for  准备

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome  严重急性呼吸道综合征，缩写为SARS，即为非典型肺炎。

1 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。

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

4 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

5 culled   

v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The herd must be culled. 必须有选择地杀掉部分牧畜。 来自辞典例句
• The facts were culled from various sources. 这些事实是从各方收集到的。 来自辞典例句

6 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

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 sporadically   

adv.偶发地，零星地

参考例句：

• There are some trees sporadically around his house. 他的房子周围零星地有点树木。 来自辞典例句
• As for other aspects, we will sporadically hand out questionnaires. 在其他方面，我们会偶尔发送调查问卷。 来自互联网

9 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。

10 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

11 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

12 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。