美国医学地理学家研究病患在某地发生的原因

American Medical Geographer¹ Studies

'The Why of Where'

美国医学地理学家研究病患在某地发生的原因

 

Mention the profession "geographer" and most people think of traditional roles of mapmakers…or of explorers studying exotic cultures. But the scope of geography has expanded, forming hybrids² with some very different fields.

 

When Lee De Cola teaches a class, he often brings of a projector³ filled with the images of dozens of colorful maps, showing how Lyme Disease, West Nile Virus, or some other malady⁴ has spread across the United States. Mr. De Cola is one of just a few hundred medical geographers⁵ in America, so it is not surprising that he draws puzzled looks from those who ask about his work.

 

Lee De Cola: When I meet people on an airplane, they say, 'Medical geography, that sounds interesting…what's that all about?' All I have to do is tell them, 'Have you seen a map about AIDS recently?' They say, 'Sure.' That's medical geography: the Why of Where. Everything happens somewhere, so when we map it, it becomes much more illuminating⁶ to see a map of something, instead of talking about it in the abstract.

 

Although medical geography became an official specialty⁷ area just a few decades ago, its roots may actually be traced to ancient times. Mr. De Cola says it all started with the Greek doctor Hippocrates, known for his Hippocratic Oath, which emphasizes "above all, do no harm."

 

Lee De Cola: Many of the phenomena⁸ we now call geography influenced people's health. The quality of the water, the atmosphere, what lifestyles people had, what they ate, what health they had was determined⁹ by geographic¹⁰ phenomena. Here was a scholar writing 2,000 years ago about the very same issues we're talking about today.

 

In the mid-19th century, British doctor John Snow used principles medical geography to locate the source of a cholera¹¹ epidemic¹² in London, as Mr. De Cola explains.

 

Lee De Cola: He showed a map of cases of cholera clustered around a pump that led him to suspect that it was the pump itself that was the source of polluted water that was giving people cases of cholera. That was medical geography. He actually created what we now would call a 'geographic information system.'

 

In the 1930s, a group of dental geographers in Colorado found the connection between children drinking naturally fluoridated water and having fewer dental cavities. Mr. De Cola says the crossover has spurred more cooperation between geographers and such health organizations as the Centers for Disease Control.

 

Lee De Cola: The collaboration¹³ is really growing and it's in its very early stages. I was down at CDC last year and realized that not only could we take information about diseases and make maps of it, but we can turn that process around and start asking spatial¹⁴ questions and even using spatial information to help organize the information itself.

 

Thus, Lee De Cola and other medical geographers are combining a variety of social, economic and environmental data with the source and spread of disease.

 

Lee De Cola: You're collecting information on certain kinds of reports to doctors, pharmaceutical¹⁵ purchases, certain kinds of environmental measurements that are unusual. Putting all these things together, we [ask], 'Is there something unusual going on here? Is it an outbreak of a mosquito-borne disease? A bio-terrorism event? An oil spill here? ' Or something like that.

 

In the future, Mr. De Cola says medical geography will continue as an important part of medical research -- which, itself, will experience fast growth.

 

Lee De Cola: Bio-medicine is an exploding field. The American economy devoted¹⁶ over a trillion dollars to personal and public health expenditures¹⁷. That number is increasing much more rapidly than the economy as a whole.

 

注释：

mapmaker [5mAp9meikEr] n. 地图制作者，制图师

Lyme [laim] 莱姆关节炎

West Nile Virus 西尼罗河病毒

illuminating [i5lju:mi7neitiN] adj. 启蒙的

abstract [5AbstrAkt] n. 摘要，抽象

Hippocratic Oath 希波克拉底誓言，即新开业医生所立之誓约

phenomena [fi5nCminE] n. 现象

atmosphere [5AtmEsfiE] n. 大气，空气

cholera epidemic 霍乱流行

fluoridate [5flu:Erideit] v. 在饮水中加少量氟

dental cavity 蛀牙

collaboration [kE7lAbE5reiFEn] n. 协作，通敌

pharmaceutical [7fB:mE5sju:tikEl] n. 药物

Bio-medicine 生物医学

trillion [5triljEn] num. 万亿

1 geographer   

n.地理学者

参考例句：

• His grandfather is a geographer.他的祖父是一位地理学家。
• Li Siguang is a famous geographer.李四光是一位著名的地理学家。

2 hybrids   

n.杂交生成的生物体( hybrid的名词复数 )；杂交植物（或动物）；杂种；（不同事物的）混合物

参考例句：

• All these brightly coloured hybrids are so lovely in the garden. 花园里所有这些色彩鲜艳的杂交花真美丽。 来自辞典例句
• The notion that interspecific hybrids are rare is ill-founded. 有一种看法认为种间杂种是罕见的，这种看法是无根据的。 来自辞典例句

3 projector   

n.投影机，放映机，幻灯机

参考例句：

• There is a new projector in my office.我的办公室里有一架新的幻灯机。
• How long will it take to set up the projector?把这个放映机安放好需要多长时间？

4 malady   

n.病，疾病(通常做比喻)

参考例句：

• There is no specific remedy for the malady.没有医治这种病的特效药。
• They are managing to control the malady into a small range.他们设法将疾病控制在小范围之内。

5 geographers   

地理学家( geographer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Geographers study the configuration of the mountains. 地理学家研究山脉的地形轮廓。
• Many geographers now call this landmass Eurasia. 许多地理学家现在把这块陆地叫作欧亚大陆。

6 illuminating   

a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的

参考例句：

• We didn't find the examples he used particularly illuminating. 我们觉得他采用的那些例证启发性不是特别大。
• I found his talk most illuminating. 我觉得他的话很有启发性。

7 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。

8 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

9 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

10 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 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。

12 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。

13 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

14 spatial   

adj.空间的，占据空间的

参考例句：

• This part of brain judges the spatial relationship between objects.大脑的这部分判断物体间的空间关系。
• They said that time is the feeling of spatial displacement.他们说时间是空间位移的感觉。

15 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

16 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

17 expenditures   

n.花费( expenditure的名词复数 )；使用；（尤指金钱的）支出额；（精力、时间、材料等的）耗费

参考例句：

• We have overspent.We'll have to let up our expenditures next month. 我们已经超支了，下个月一定得节约开支。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pension includes an allowance of fifty pounds for traffic expenditures. 年金中包括50镑交通费补贴。 来自《简明英汉词典》