2006年VOA标准英语-Experts Worried by Drug-Resistant TB in Africa,

By Scott Bobb
Pretoria
19 October 2006

Health officials from southern Africa and the World Health Organization (WHO) met Tuesday and Wednesday in South Africa to discuss ways to deal with growing cases of drug-resistant¹ tuberculosis².  Because new drugs to fight the disease may be more than a decade away, experts say a global plan must be implemented³ to strengthen existing forms of detection and treatment.

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An x-ray of a patient affected⁴ by tuberculosis    
  
International health officials are alarmed by the rise of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, and say international strategies are urgently needed to combat them.

South Africa's health ministry⁵ this week hosted a meeting of experts from the World Health Organization and 11 southern African nations.  Executive-director Thami Mseleku said African governments were among the first to raise the alarm.

"It was the region itself that actually identified the challenge of TB as an emergency in Africa and resolved that all countries in Africa should start developing strategies for dealing⁶ with the emergency," he said.

 
Thami Mseleku 
  
Mseleku said a recent outbreak of drug-resistant TB in South Africa has killed more than 100 people, nearly one-third of those diagnosed with the strain.

Tuberculosis is highly contagious⁷ disease caused by bacteria that usually attack the lungs. It is spread when a victim with active TB coughs or sneezes.

Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis is resistant to all of the main anti-TB drugs, known as first-line drugs.  It is also resistant to older medicines, known as a second-line drugs.  These were abandoned decades ago because of their serious side effects but are now being brought back into use.

An even more serious strain, called extreme drug-resistant TB, resists almost all drugs known to science.

Experts are worried because new anti-tuberculosis drugs may not be available for another 15 years.

The director of the WHO's tuberculosis department, Mario Raviglione, said a recent survey found drug-resistant tuberculosis on every continent.

 
Mario Raviglione
  
"Multi-drug-resistant TB is present everywhere in the world where we surveyed, in 102 out of 109 countries that have been surveyed in the past decade," he noted⁸.  "So its a universal problem."

A total of 1.5 million people died of TB last year.  Additionally, 9 million new cases were reported, of these 400,000 cases were drug-resistant.

The highest recorded numbers of victims were in China and countries of the former Soviet⁹ Union, but the highest number of deaths per capita were in Southern and Eastern Africa.

A WHO specialist on TB, Ernesto Jaramillo says drug resistant TB strains could be avoided.

 
Dr.  Ernesto Jaramillo
  
"Drug resistance is man-made," he explained.  "The causes are not only biological, but social and economic."

He says drug-resistant strains emerge because of improperly¹⁰ managed treatment of TB, including the use of low quality drugs and the incorrect use of drugs.

Drug-resistant strains also surface when patients abandon treatment before they are cured.

In the developing world, treatment for TB can cost one-half of the average monthly wage. In addition to the expense, the movement of migrant workers between rural and urban areas makes it difficult for them to maintain treatment programs.

Experts note that Southern Africa, with 11 percent of Africa's population, recorded two-thirds of the continent's deaths from TB.  They said this is due in part to the high incidence of HIV/AIDS in the region.

A director of the WHO's department of HIV/AIDS, Teguest Guerma, said more than 50 percent of the people with TB in southern Africa are also infected with the HIV virus.

She says that HIV sufferers, because of their weakened immune systems, are prone¹¹ to re-infection and this makes them susceptible¹² to extreme drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB).

"The XDR-TB crisis will not in most parts of the world be solved unless HIV is properly considered," she said.

She says that the because of the stigma¹³ of HIV many people avoid being tested, which means many cases of TB go undetected. And she says a lack of collaboration¹⁴ between the two programs mean that people diagnosed with HIV often are not tested for TB.

She says in order to combat both scourges¹⁵, HIV and TB programs must work closely together.

Dr. Jaramillo says it is possible to cure 100 percent of those people infected with non-resistant strains of TB and up to 60 percent of those with extreme drug-resistant TB.  As a result, he says strong anti-TB programs are highly effective against drug-resistant strains as well.

But an advisor¹⁶ in the WHO's Africa office, Wilfred Nkhoma, says a lack of resources in Africa is a major challenge.

"Time is not on our side," he said.  "I think that we all owe it to our people.  It is an individual responsibility.  It is also a public responsibility, a collective responsibility."

He says as a result, human and financial resources must be mobilized to strengthen the continent's health systems.

A 10-year global plan was launched in January to treat 50 million TB patients and save 40 million lives.  The plan calls for $56 billion in funding, $47 billion for detection and treatment, and $9 billion for research.  Two-thirds of the funding is to come from individual countries and the rest from multi-lateral organizations.

1 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

2 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

3 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

7 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

8 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。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 improperly   

不正确地，不适当地

参考例句：

• Of course it was acting improperly. 这样做就是不对嘛！
• He is trying to improperly influence a witness. 他在试图误导证人。

11 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

12 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。

13 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

14 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。

15 scourges   

带来灾难的人或东西，祸害( scourge的名词复数 )； 鞭子

参考例句：

• Textile workers suffer from three scourges -- noise, dust and humidity. 纱厂工人的三大威胁，就是音响、尘埃和湿气。 来自汉英文学 - 现代散文
• Believe, if Internet remains great scourges, also won't have present dimensions. 相信，如果互联网仍然是洪水猛兽，也不会有现在的规模。

16 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。