2007年VOA标准英语-Global Tuberculosis Rate Holding Steady

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
22 March 2007

A new report says the global tuberculosis¹ epidemic² has leveled off for the first time since the World Health Organization declared TB a public health emergency in 1993. WHO's Global Tuberculosis Control report finds the percentage of the world's population struck by TB peaked in 2004 and then held steady in 2005. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from WHO headquarters in Geneva.

 
An x-ray of a patient affected³ by tuberculosis 
In 2005, the World Health Organization reports nearly nine million people became infected with tuberculosis and about 1.6 million people died of the disease. It says almost 60 percent of TB cases worldwide are now detected and the vast majority are cured.

The director of the WHO's Stop TB Department, Mario Raviglione, says success against the disease is due to the regular, if slow, decline of TB in Asia and Latin America, as well as a possible peaking of the TB epidemic in Africa and eastern Europe.

"If the trend that we are foreseeing happening today is confirmed in the next three or four years, than the Millennium⁴ Development Goal relevant to TB, that of declining incidence, may actually be reached years before 2015, which is the hope that we have," he said.

WHO's goal is to cut TB worldwide by 70 percent and to cure 85 percent of those cases that are detected by 2015. Over the past decade, 26 million patients have been placed on WHO's Stop TB Strategy, known as DOTS.

 
Mario Raviglione (file photo)
Dr. Raviglione says TB deaths have declined in countries that have adopted this treatment program. However, he says the pace of reduction is so slow that at the present rate, it could take centuries to eliminate the disease. He says the actual number of TB cases also is rising because people are living longer and the global population is expanding. Another problem, the WHO official says, is that some of the drugs used to fight it are not as effective as they once were.

"The other piece of bad news is multi-drug resistant⁵ tuberculosis, which is resistant to the first line drugs… It is at alarming levels in the former Soviet⁶ Union and in parts of China… Still worse is the appearance… of extensively drug resistant tuberculosis which is a form of TB resistant also to second line drugs," said Raviglione.

WHO warns the spread of this form of TB resistance poses a serious threat to progress and could even reverse recent gains. It says the situation will be particularly serious in Africa where TB remains⁷ a major cause of death among people living with HIV/AIDS. An estimated one-third of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are also infected with TB.

 
Dr. Peter Piot (file photo)
The executive director of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, warns anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in sub-Saharan Africa jeopardizes⁸ much of the progress made so far in HIV/AIDS treatment.

Piot explains, "It developed in large part due to inadequate⁹ investment in basic tuberculosis control programs. And it is able to spread rapidly among communities of people living with HIV because of poor health infrastructure¹⁰ and inadequate access to HIV prevention and treatment services.

Dr. Piot says HIV and TB treatment services have to be more integrated than ever before.

The World Health Organization is calling for greater investment in research for better diagnostic tools, new drugs and vaccines¹¹.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

5 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。

6 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。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 jeopardizes   

危及，损害( jeopardize的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• If your reckless behavior jeopardizes this mission, you're out! 如果你不注意你的言行，会危及到这次任务你也会被开除！
• Factionalism now seriously jeopardizes our overall interest. 现在闹派性已经严重地妨害我们的大局。

9 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 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。