VOA标准英语2010年-AIDS, TB Experts Unite to Reduce Death

Protesters from No More People Living With HIV Dying From TB movement speak during International AIDS Conference 2010 in Vienna, Austria, 22 July 2010

More than a third of the planet's population is infected with the bacteria that causes tuberculosis¹ - the disease known as TB. In many of them, the bacteria will remain dormant². But people living with HIV are much more likely to develop active TB because of their weakened immune systems. Experts at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna say political will and proper funding are the only obstacles to reducing the number of these deaths. 

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease that is most commonly transmitted in overcrowded areas. Each year, there are more than nine million new cases worldwide, the vast majority in densely³ populated, developing countries such as India, China, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

There is no vaccine⁴ for the most common strain of TB, but the disease is treatable and curable. However, in people with HIV, it has become the leading cause of death.

 At the international AIDS conference, the Stop TB Partnership⁵ and UNAIDS have announced an agreement to work together to address the two diseases with a unified⁶ strategy. Dr. Marcos Espinal is the executive secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.

 IAS/Marcus Rose/Workers
Dr. Marcos Espinal during session on AIDS and TB at International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, 22 Jul 2010

"The co-infection of TB-HIV - it is something that goes hands-by-hands," Espinal said."It is not something that is going to go away, unless we implement⁷ the necessary measures to address these two epidemics⁸ together -- in other words, integrating TB-HIV services, because what we need to make sure [of, is that] the people in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia have access to both type of services in the same health center."

People with HIV are 20 to 30 times more likely to develop tuberculosis than those without HIV. Once they have it, it can kill them rapidly, within a few months. Experts say a quarter of all HIV-related deaths are from tuberculosis. The new initiative aims to cut that rate in half by 2015 to a quarter of a million deaths. About $5 billion a year is needed to reach that goal. UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Dr. Paul De Lay says the goal is achievable.

"We have the technologies, we know how to treat now. In the past, when a person had both TB and HIV, we separated the treatments," De Lay said. "Now, we aggressively treat both illnesses at the same time. We have a much better success rate. We have better drugs now. So, we can now combine them; they don't interfere⁹ with each other. And, so, we do have the technology. Financially, it is not an astronomical¹⁰ amount of money. So, this is doable, and it is doable in the next 4 to 5 years."

But Dr. Espinal of the Stop TB Partnership emphasizes that tuberculosis and HIV are not just health issues. He says they have social, economic and human rights implications that require political will to be reduced and eventually eradicated¹¹.

"We need to ensure these people who make decisions, who decide on funding, who decide on political commitment, get the message clear," Espinal said. "Otherwise, we will not be doing our job for those people affected¹² by both diseases."

Experts here say if the global plan to Stop TB is fully¹³ funded and implemented¹⁴, millions of lives will be saved and millions more people will receive needed treatment.

 

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 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

3 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

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 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

6 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

7 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

8 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

9 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

10 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

11 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

12 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。

13 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

14 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