VOA常速英语2020--新冠疫情可能引发疟疾、结核、艾滋病死亡人数骤升

Sibongile Zulu is among the 7.7 million South Africans who are HIV positive. She takes a cocktail¹ of antiretroviral drugs to suppress the virus. When South Africa imposed a coronavirus lockdown in March, Zulu lost her job. Weeks later her local clinic began to run short of some medication. I think for two months, I was using only one that I was supposed to use two. And if I don't use both of them, it's a big risk and I can get sick. Across the world doctors say the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns, will likely hamper² the fight against other killer³ diseases like tuberculosis⁴ or TB, malaria⁵ and HIV. Epidemiologist Dr. Saleem Sabdul Karim advises the South African government on the coronavirus, and has led research into other infectious diseases in Africa. People are scared to go to health care services. We have seen a decline in the number of tests for tuberculosis. We've seen a decline in the number of patients coming in to get their medications. So that's of deep concern because it could undo⁶ the years of work, that it has taken us to get to this point.

南非有770万艾滋病患者，赛比吉尔·祖鲁是其中之一。她通过服用抗逆转录病毒混合药物来抑制艾滋病毒。当南非在今年三月实施冠状病毒封锁时，祖鲁失去了工作。几周之后，当地的诊所开始出现药物短缺的情况。我想，大概有两个月的时间，我一直在服用一种药物，而我本该服用两种的。如果无法服用两种药物，那会产生很大的风险，我会得病的。世界各地的医生表示，冠状病毒疫情和随后实施的封锁，将很可能阻碍人们与其他致命疾病的斗争，比如肺结核、疟疾和艾滋病毒。流行病学家萨拉姆·撒布达尔·卡里姆为南非政府提供关于冠状病毒的医学建议，并带领南非政府对非洲其它传染病进行研究。人们害怕去医疗保健部门。我们看到结核病的检测数量在下降。我们看到前来取药的患者数量在减少。我们对此深感忧虑，因为它可能会使我们多年的努力付诸东流。

TB cases and deaths have fallen year on year in South Africa and many other countries. But it remains⁷ one of the world's biggest killers⁸ with an estimated 1.5 million deaths last year. We know there's a 50% decrease in TB testing in South Africa at the moment. So people are not able to go to the clinic or go to hospitals and so on. And they're not being diagnosed with TB, and this means that they can then transmit TB further to other people. So it's just going to sort of snowball. Malaria deaths in Africa could double in 2020, warn researchers from Imperial College London, unless disrupted services such as mosquito net distribution and malaria treatments are maintained. Despite the dire⁹ forecasts, Karim says there is opportunity. The opportunity to look at integration¹⁰, integration between Covid, HIV, TB and other conditions. So that when we are investing for our coronavirus vigilance, we are benefiting not just the Covid epidemic¹¹, but the epidemics¹² of HIV and TB as well. The global community must look at the bigger picture, says Mcquaid. We start to lose gains that we've been making in recent years, hard-fought gains that we've made. And we could be pushed back five, ten, twenty years even. Huge resources have been dedicated¹³ to the fight against the coronavirus. Doctors say its vital that other deadly diseases are not neglected.

在南非和许多国家，结核病的确诊病例和死亡人数已经逐年下降。但结核病仍然是世界上最致命的杀手之一，去年估计有150万人死于结核病。我们知道，目前南非的结核病检测减少了50%。人们无法前往诊所、医院等机构进行检测。患者们无法被检测出患有结核病，也就意味着他们可以进一步将病毒传染给其他人。所以这就会像是滚雪球一样。伦敦帝国理工学院的研究人员警告称，除非南非继续实施蚊帐分发和疟疾治疗等干预服务，否则2020年非洲疟疾的死亡人数可能会翻一番。尽管预测结果显示很糟糕，但卡里姆说机会还是存在的。我们有机会把新冠肺炎、艾滋病、结核病等疾病整合到一起进行防控和治疗。因此，在我们为警戒冠状病毒进行投资时，我们不仅有机会抗击冠状病毒，而且还可能会防范艾滋病毒和结核病。麦克奎德表示，国际社会必须着眼于大局。我们近年来所取得的成果，我们通过艰苦的斗争所取得成果，都开始付之一炬。我们的进展可能倒退5年、10年、甚至20年。大量的资源被用于抗击冠状病毒。医生表示，关键在于不能忽视其他致命疾病。

Henry Ridgwell for voa news London

美国之音，记者亨利·里奇威尔，伦敦报道

1 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

2 hamper   

vt.妨碍，束缚，限制；n.(有盖的)大篮子

参考例句：

• There are some apples in a picnic hamper.在野餐用的大篮子里有许多苹果。
• The emergence of such problems seriously hamper the development of enterprises.这些问题的出现严重阻碍了企业的发展。

3 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

4 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。

5 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。

6 undo   

vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销

参考例句：

• His pride will undo him some day.他的傲慢总有一天会毁了他。
• I managed secretly to undo a corner of the parcel.我悄悄地设法解开了包裹的一角。

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 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

9 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

10 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

11 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。

12 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。

13 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。