VOA标准英语2009年-Environmentalist: New Thinking Needed on N

By Carol Pearson
Washington
03 November 2009

 
A CDC Image of H1N1 influenza¹ virus
The World Health Organization says that since April nearly 5,000 people around the world have died from the H1N1 virus, mostly in the Western Hemisphere. Doctors initially² called the virus swine flu because it contained genetic³ material found in pig influenza, but researchers are now re-thinking not just the names of these viruses, but the way they look at them, too.

In the U.S., health centers have received at least 23 million doses of the vaccine⁴ for the H1N1 flu, and they are still facing shortages. Scenes like this one are common -- people willing to wait hours to get their children immunized.

Kathleen Jenkins pitched a tent the night before the the clinic doors opened to make sure her children got the vaccine.

Children and pregnant women so far are the focus of the vaccinations⁵.

"It's not about me," Kathleen Jenkins said, "it's about taking care of my children."

Despite its initial name, H1N1 is not transmitted from pigs to humans. Farmer Paul Zimmerman says he wishes the virus had gotten another name. "How did the swine industry get a bad rap on this? I wish we could have called it the Venezuelan flu when it first came out or something," Zimmerman said.

Some pigs in the U.S. eventually got the virus, but it did not make them sick.
In August, researchers found the H1N1 virus in turkeys in Chile. Researchers concluded the virus most likely was transmitted from man to bird.

In the past several years, people worried about getting the deadly bird flu from infected poultry⁶. And civets, cat-like animals used for food in .., turned out to be the source for a severe respiratory disease called SARS. In the U.S., environmetal scientist Gary Flory worked to prevent the spread of bird flu in domestic poultry. He says it is time to re-think the way diseases are categorized.

 
Gary Flory
"Animal health and human health, they are all related and very much need to be looked at together," Flory said.

Flory says 75 percent of emerging infectious diseases are transmitted from animals to humans or the other way around. And most emerge in Asia where human and animal populations often live close together. He also cites increased travel. "If we have a disease outbreak halfway⁷ around the world, it can be in our town within 12 hours," he said.

People are not the only ones traveling. Scientists say exotic pets can spread disease to domestic animals -- or to people. And disease can spread through trade. .. recently broadened its ban on pork from the United States. And so-called "mad cow" disease came from sick animals.

"We're selling meat all the way around the world," Flory explained, "and so not only do we have people traveling, we also have animal products traveling."

Add to this mix, the fact that viruses are constantly changing and through the changes, can spread to different species.

1 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。

2 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

3 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。

4 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

5 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 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?

7 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。