VOA常速英语2008年-Rapid Malaria Tests Change Medical Diagnoses in

By Phuong Tran
Dakar
25 April 2008

What started out as Africa Malaria¹ Day was being observed worldwide for the first time on Friday. Health organizations have long said that most of the one million deaths every year attributed to malaria happen in Africa. But a newly-introduced malaria test that gives results in 15 minutes shows not every case of fever means malaria, which is how many health workers have previously² diagnosed³ the disease. Phuong Tran has more VOA's West Africa Bureau in Dakar.

Nurse Khany Faye Sougou recently examined an 18-month-old baby at the district health center in Pikine, a suburb of Senegal's capital Dakar. His mother says she was worried he had malaria because he had not eaten the previous day and had a fever, common signs of malaria.

The nurse pricked⁴ the child's finger to draw blood that she dropped into a small white stick to test for the malaria parasite⁵, spread through infected mosquitoes.

Fifteen minutes later, Sougou looked at the white stick and announced the child did not have malaria.

Senegal's health centers in cities started using rapid diagnostic tests last September. Pikine's medical chief, Karim Diop, says the tests have completely changed how his workers treat fevers.

"Before the rapid tests, every case of fever was assumed to be malaria," said Diop. "None of the other 21 health centers in my district have labs to test for malaria. We could not take the risk and wait for lab results from the region's only lab. So every child, pregnant⁶ woman, and most others with fevers got anti-malarial medication just to be safe."

Malaria can kill within days, especially pregnant women, children and patients with weak immune⁷ systems, like those with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV, which causes AIDS.

Most suspected cases are not tested in Senegal because of a lack of good quality microscopes.

Malaria rapid tests do not require lab analysis and are given for free. The international donor⁸ group, the Global Fund, covers the 50 cent cost for each test, and recently funded one million tests in Senegal.

Since using the test, medical chief Diop says less than 30 percent of 10,000 suspected malaria cases have been positive. He says all 10,000 patients would have been given malaria medication if workers did not have the rapid test.

Scientist David Bell with the World Health Organization says anti-malarial drugs become ineffective when people without malaria take it and develop resistance.

Rapid tests have been introduced worldwide in recent years, as countries face more pressure to improve diagnosis⁹ because of growing drug resistance.

While most countries in West Africa are switching over to more effective anti-malarial drugs, only a few are widely offering rapid tests, such as Liberia, Ghana, and Senegal.

The World Health Organization estimates up to 80 million rapid tests were used last year, mostly in Africa.

But scientist Bell says rapid tests are not a guarantee against future drug resistance.

"Someone can have a rapid diagnostic test done on them, but if it is negative, they still have a fever; they are still sick," said Bell. "Programs need to give some other way for the health worker to help that person, otherwise there is still a danger they will be given anti-malarial drugs if the health worker has nothing else to give them."

Deadly illnesses that share symptoms with malaria include meningitis and respiratory infections. Bell adds that if the tests are not stored and transported properly, they will not work. When possible, World Health Organization officials encourage microscope testing where available.

"Because of the technology which the tests are made of, they are often sensitive to heat," said Bell. "If you are using a rapid test in a remote village in somewhere like Sudan or West Africa, the temperatures can get up to 40 degrees [Celsius], then it has been shown that the tests can deteriorate¹⁰ under those conditions."

Bell says though there have been studies showing some malaria rapid tests are as effective as microscope tests, not all studies are reliable.

For six years, the World Health Organization has been gathering¹¹ malaria samples from across the world to test more than 40 different rapid tests. Next month, the World Health Organization is expected to launch product testing. Scientist Bell says results are expected by year end.

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 diagnosed   

诊断( diagnose的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Some foetal malformations cannot be diagnosed until late in pregnancy. 有些胎儿的畸形部位得等到妊娠后期才能诊断出来。
• He diagnosed the trouble that caused the engine to knock. 他找出了引擎咔咔响的毛病所在。

4 pricked   

刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛

参考例句：

• The cook pricked a few holes in the pastry. 厨师在馅饼上戳了几个洞。
• He was pricked by his conscience. 他受到良心的谴责。

5 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

6 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

7 immune   

adj.免疫的，有免疫力的，不受影响的，免除的

参考例句：

• I am immune from the disease,for I had it once.我对这病有免疫力，因为我已得过一次了。
• Be immune from corruption.拒腐蚀，永不沾。

8 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

9 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

10 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

11 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。