环球英语 — 55：Lymphatic Filariasis, a worm disease

　　Voice 1
Thank you for joining us today for Spotlight¹. I’m Rebekah Schipper
Voice 2
And I’m Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Antoinette St. Fab sells rice and oil in a market in Haiti. She is thirty [30] years old. She works very hard in the busy market. But Antoinette has a problem. Her legs are swollen². Fluid fills them. They are very large. Her left leg is almost thirty [30] centimetres thick. She has trouble finding shoes to fit her feet. And she has to cut her clothing to fit over her legs. This helps her to walk more easily. Antoinette has Lymphatic Filariasis. Antoinette says:
Voice 3
“In the past, I used to carry (food) like spaghetti and canned milk on my head and walk around selling them. But I can not do that any more.”
Voice 2
Antoinette used to experience fevers and infections in her legs. She has prevented this by washing her legs often She also puts medicine on them. But her legs often still hurt. And they continue to make her life difficult. When Antoinette’s husband learned that her legs would not become smaller, he left her. She worries that her new boyfriend will also leave her. The other women at the market insult her.
Voice 3
“I stepped on someone’s foot by accident, and she said. ‘Hey yam leg, do not put your fat foot on me.’ I told her: ‘Oh, be quiet. God gave me this leg. Do you think that if I went to the store to buy a leg, this is the one I would choose?’”
Voice 1
Antoinette asked doctors to cut off her leg. But the doctors would not do it. They said that having a large leg is better than having no leg. They said that if they cut off her leg, other parts of her body could become large and swollen.
Voice 2
This is a common problem among people in very poor countries. Mosquitos, insects that drink blood, spread the disease. The mosquitos carry young worms, a long, thin organism, in their bodies. These long thin organisms enter a person’s body when the mosquito bites him. One worm in a person’s body does not do damage. But when many worms enter a person’s body, then problems begin.
Voice 1
Male and female worms mate inside a person’s body. The female worm releases many larvae³, or baby worms, into a person’s lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is part of the immune⁴ system. It helps a person to fight sickness. The lymphatic system is made up of two main parts: the vessels⁵ and nodes. The vessels are tubes that spread through a person’s body. The nodes are like little balls connected to the vessels. When the baby worms enter the lymphatic system, it becomes infected. The worms cause these areas to fill up with fluid. The name Lymphatic Filariasis comes from these two parts. Lymphatic means the lymphatic system. Filariasis comes from the word filaria. This is the scientific word for worms.
Voice 2
Over one hundred twenty million [120,000,000] people in eighty [80] countries suffer from Lymphatic Filariasis. The disease affects people in different ways. Some people’s legs grow large like Antoinette’s leg. But more often, the disease affects men’s sexual⁶ organs. Many people are not comfortable talking about how the disease affects men. Some men lie about their problem. They do not want to admit that they have a disease.
Voice 1
Many men with Lymphatic Filariasis have enlarged scrotums. Sometimes a scrotum, a part of the male sexual organ, grows past a man’s knees. This swelling⁷ is called a hydrocele. It can be very painful. It can make walking difficult. But many men feel shame when they have this problem. They do not talk about it. They do not seek help from a doctor. If a man does not accept that he has a disease, he will never get help.
Voice 2
Doctors can operate on men to make the hydrocele smaller. But swollen legs cannot be made smaller. Filariasis can not be cured. The worms are too strong. They live too deep in the body. Doctors cannot remove them with surgery. Medicine today is aimed at killing⁸ the baby worms in a person’s body. The medicine prevents more worms from growing.
Voice 1
But the medicine does not fix the problem fast. The medicine cannot kill the adult worms living in a person’s body. A person with filariasis must wait for the adult worm inside her to die. This may last six years! And making sure that everyone in a community takes their medicine can be difficult. Medicine also costs a lot of money. Most people in these poor villages cannot buy it.
Voice 2
One way that people receive medicine is by using salt. The World Health Organization has given money to start a salt program in Haiti. Fifty [50] people in Haiti buy local sea salt. They remove rocks and wood from the salt. Then they wash it. After that, they put liquid medicine on it. They put the salt into containers. They sell it to local people. It costs twenty-six [26] cents to make one container of salt. But the people must sell the salt for ten [10] cents to compete with normal salt prices. Local people use this salt in their homes. But they also receive the medicine. This will prevent Filariasis from spreading in Haiti.
Voice 1
The salt treatment has worked in other countries around the world. China began to use the salt method in the nineteen seventies [1970’s]. China stopped the disease by ordering people in villages to use this kind of salt. China stopped Filariasis because the Chinese government supported the fight against the disease.
Voice 2
The World Health Organization has made a goal to stop this disease by the year 2020. It will give medicine to the people in the villages. The World Health Organization teams want to prevent people from becoming infected by the worms. But they will also teach people who already have the disease. The teams will teach them ways to fight infection and reduce swelling. This treatment is already helping⁹ many people like Antoinette. The World Health Organization hopes that soon Lyphatic Filariasis will no longer exist.
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 swollen   

adj.肿大的，水涨的；v.使变大，肿胀

参考例句：

• Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着，她的双腿已经肿了。
• A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她，她的手臂肿起来了。

3 larvae   

n.幼虫

参考例句：

• Larvae are parasitic on sheep.幼虫寄生在绵羊的身上。
• The larvae prey upon small aphids.这种幼虫以小蚜虫为食。

4 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。

5 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

7 swelling   

n.肿胀

参考例句：

• Use ice to reduce the swelling. 用冰敷消肿。
• There is a marked swelling of the lymph nodes. 淋巴结处有明显的肿块。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。