WHO: Bird Flu Not Transmitted from Person to Person

WHO: Bird Flu Not Transmitted from Person to Person

Nancy-Amelia Collins

 

United Nations health officials say the bird flu that has led to the killing¹ of tens of millions of chickens in Asia is not being transmitted from person to person, and they played down reports that the virus has infected pigs in Vietnam. Either development could have been the forerunner² to a human influenza³ epidemic⁴.

The World Health Organization said Saturday that two sisters who died from the H5N1 strain of the avian virus earlier this month in Vietnam did not catch the virus from their brother, who also died from bird flu. The WHO said genetic⁵ tests showed that the virus from both sisters is of avian origin and contained no human influenza genes⁶.

So far, at least 18 people have died from the virus in Vietnam and Thailand, and health officials have said all those who died caught the virus from close contact with infected chickens.

John Rainford, the WHO spokesman in Thailand, says the Vietnamese sisters died in the same way as the others, and not because they were infected with a mutated, or "recomposition," virus. "We knew that, what they had died of wasn't any kind of recomposition virus."

Bird flu has devastated⁸ poultry⁹ industries across Asia, with 10 countries reporting confirmed outbreaks of avian flu. At least 50 million chickens in the region have been culled¹¹ in efforts to stem the spread of the disease.

Health experts say their worry is that the avian virus could combine with the human influenza virus, and create a new strain of bird flu that could be passed from human to human. That could result in the type of pandemic that killed millions around the world in the last century.

On Friday, the U.N. Food and Agriculture director in Hanoi caused alarm when he said the H5N1 virus had been found in the nostrils¹³ of pigs in the Vietnamese capital. The report was worrying because health officials say pigs are a perfect vessel¹⁴ for the avian and human forms of the virus to mix and swap¹⁵ genes.

The FAO's headquarters in Rome quickly downplayed that report, saying the pigs lived on farms with infected chickens and could easily have inhaled¹⁷ infected chicken feces. The WHO's Mr. Rainford says the finding of the virus in the pigs' noses is preliminary, and even if that turns out to be the case, there is no evidence that the pigs have actually been infected with the disease. "It was very preliminary. You had a couple of nasal swabs, as I understand it, which would not comprise any kind of rigorous scientific study. It would be expected that there would be some measure of transmission somewhere down the road, but they don't have any evidence that that's the case right now." A Vietnamese official said flatly Saturday that no pigs in the country had been infected.

 

注释：

bird flu  禽流感

play down  缩小某事的重要性，轻描淡写

forerunner [5fC:7rQnE] n. 前兆，预兆

influenza [Influ5enzE] n. 流行性感冒，亦作：flu。

epidemic [epI5demIk] n. 流行病，时疫

strain [strein] n. （医）种，变种

avian [5eiviEn] adj. 鸟类的，禽类的

mutated [mju:5teitid] adj. 变异的

recomposition [9ri:kCmpE5zIFEn] n. 重组，改编

devastate⁷ [5devEsteit] vt. 毁灭，破坏

cull¹⁰ [kQl] vt. 挑出而杀掉，挑出（老弱动物）杀死

stem [stem] v. 阻止

pandemic [pAn5demik] n. 流行性疾病

alarm [E5lB:m] n. 警告

nostril¹² [5nRstrIl] n. 鼻孔

swap [swCp] v. 交换

FAO  abbr. Food and Agriculture Organization，联合国粮食农业组织。

downplay [5daJnpleI] vt. 不予重视

inhale¹⁶ [in5heil] vt. 吸入

feces [5fi:si:z] n. 粪，屎

preliminary [pri5liminEri] adj. 初步的

swab [swRb] n. 吸取的液体

rigorous [5rI^ErEs] adj. 精确的，一丝不苟的

flatly [5flAtli] adv. 坚决地

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 forerunner   

n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先

参考例句：

• She is a forerunner of the modern women's movement.她是现代妇女运动的先驱。
• Penicillin was the forerunner of modern antibiotics.青霉素是现代抗生素的先导。

3 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。

4 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

5 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。

6 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

7 devastate   

v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒

参考例句：

• A few days before,a fire had devastated large parts of Windsor Castle.几天前，温莎城堡的大部分被一场大火烧毁。
• Earthquakes can also cause tsunamis,which devastate coastal regions.地震还引发海啸，它直接破坏海岸地区。

8 devastated   

v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词)；摧毁；毁灭；在感情上（精神上、财务上等）压垮adj.毁坏的；极为震惊的

参考例句：

• The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city. 这颗炸弹炸毁了旧城的一大片地方。
• His family is absolutely devastated. 他的一家感到极为震惊。

9 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?

10 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。

11 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

12 nostril   

n.鼻孔

参考例句：

• The Indian princess wore a diamond in her right nostril.印弟安公主在右鼻孔中戴了一颗钻石。
• All South American monkeys have flat noses with widely spaced nostril.所有南美洲的猴子都有平鼻子和宽大的鼻孔。

13 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

14 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

15 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

16 inhale   

v.吸入(气体等)，吸(烟)

参考例句：

• Don't inhale dust into your lung.别把灰尘吸进肺里。
• They are pleased to not inhale second hand smoke.他们很高兴他们再也不会吸到二手烟了。

17 inhaled   

v.吸入( inhale的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. 她合上双眼，深深吸了一口气。
• Janet inhaled sharply when she saw him. 珍妮特看到他时猛地吸了口气。 来自《简明英汉词典》