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VOA慢速英语2013 布基纳法索科学家研究蚊子与疟疾荣获大奖

时间:2013-12-11 14:56:54

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Burkina Faso Scientist Wins Award for Mosquito Research 布基纳法索科学家研究蚊子与疟疾荣获大奖

From VOA Learning English, this is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS.  I’m Faith Lapidus.

And I’m Christopher Cruise.  Today we take you to the West African nation of Burkina Faso.  A scientist from Burkina Faso recently won an award for his research on  mosquitoes and malaria1.    

Later on our program, we will tell you how doctors in Burkina Faso are using a simple, low-cost method to test for cervical cancer.  And finally, we tell how women in  a village in the country’s north are showing other women how to make more-nutritious2 meals.

Scientists are working in a race against time to defeat malaria.  Existing drugs and insecticide products are becoming less effective in the fight against the disease  and the mosquitoes responsible for its spread.

One of the scientists is Abdoulaye Diabate of Burkina Faso.  His country has one of the highest rates of malaria infection in the world.  Dr.  Diabate found that,  during the local rainy season, some houses had up to 900 mosquitoes.

Recently, Britain’s Royal Society recognized his research on how to change the mating behavior of mosquitoes.  He found the insects mate in large groups, called  swarms.

“The important thing about this mating system is that whenever you go into a field site, you will find, you know, mosquito swarm3 at the same place every single day.   And this kind of make it really very easy target, you know to struggle (against) these mosquitoes and see how you can just reduce mosquito density4.”

Dr.  Diabate also found that mosquitoes swarm together to mate in the same place year after year.  He says knowing this gives scientists the chance to influence  breeding patterns.

“So if you can succeed in killing5 the male, what will happen is that you will have a strong bias6 in male and female ratio.  So you will have more female than male.   And because the female really need the male to mate, and then to be able to lay eggs -- so if there is no male, no mating, no eggs, no mosquitoes.  And this case, so  no malaria.”

The findings may lead to new malaria control technologies, including genetically7 engineered mosquitoes and even mosquitoes that are unable to reproduce. 

Dr.  Diabate’s Royal Society Pfizer Award comes with $95,000 to be used toward his research.  He hopes the news of his winning the prize will motivate researchers  across Africa to work on ways of stopping malaria. 

Sir Brian Greenwood is with the London School of Hygiene8 and Tropical Medicine.  He served on the award selection committee. 

“So far, we’ve relied very much on using insecticide-treated bed nets.  But there are concerns of resistance to the insecticides that are used for treating nets.   And so really developing novel ways of controlling malaria vectors is very important.”

Malaria kills an estimated 660,000 people every year.  Most of the victims are children.  The drug company GlaxoSmithKline is making plans to seek permission to market  the world’s first malaria vaccine9.  The vaccine is known by the name RTS,S.  The World Health Organization says it could be available by 2015. 

Professor Greenwood helped to develop the drug.  He says it is not as effective as he would like it to be, but it is better than no vaccine at all.

“It probably gives about 50 percent protection in older children for three -- perhaps three or four years.  Unfortunately, it’s less effective in the very young ones  who we want to protect.  And 50 percent is not 100 percent -- which is what we would like.  But, I mean, it is a step in the first, in the right direction.”

The World Health Organization says cervical cancer kills 250,000 women worldwide each year.  WHO officials say four out of five of those women live in developing  countries, like Burkina Faso.

Simple Vinegar Test Helps Discover Cancer

But there is good news about the discovery and treatment of cervical cancer in Burkina Faso.  Doctors there are now using a simple, low-cost method to test for the  cancer.  They say the test can save thousands of lives every year. 

Yacouba Ouedraogo directs the cervical cancer prevention program at a health clinic in the capital, Ouagadougou.  He says cervical cancer has become the most common  cancer among women in Burkina Faso.  But he says finding and treating the cancer in its early forms has recently become much easier.                                                                    

That is because doctors are using a small piece of cotton covered with distilled10 white vinegar to test for the disease.  The vinegar can be bought at almost any market  in Africa.  The doctors rub the cotton swab on the opening of a woman’s uterus.  Any pre-cancerous or cancerous cells will turn white.

Dr.  Stanislas Paul Nebie has been using the vinegar test on his patients since 2010.  He says it is very simple and unlike other tests, which can be costly11 and  require sending cell samples to a laboratory.  With the vinegar test, he says, any problems can be seen immediately and treated during the same visit.

At a medical center in Ouagadougou, women pay four dollars for the test and treatment for any cells that show signs of cancer.  Dr.  Nebie says this is a good deal  considering the high cost of radiology or surgical12 treatments if the cancer is not caught early.  He says medical centers, even in rural villages, can and are  performing the vinegar test and suggesting patients for treatment. 

Burkina Faso does not yet know how many lives the vinegar test has saved.  But doctors in India reported earlier this year on a study there of 150,000 women.  The  study showed the test had cut cervical cancer deaths by 31 percent.

Most cervical cancer comes as a result of the human papilloma virus, which is passed through sexual contact.  The disease often has few signs until it reaches advanced  stages.  When it becomes more advanced, it becomes more difficult to treat.  Women simply do not know they have it -- sometimes until it is too late.

One-third of children under the age of five in Burkina Faso are chronically13 malnourished -- not getting enough nutrition for good health.  But the country’s Ministry14  of Health says the issue is not always a lack of food.  Officials say the problem may instead be a lack of the right foods. 

Recently, a group of women from one village launched an effort to improve the diet of local children.  They began training other women how to better cook foods to keep  hold of nutrients15 and prepare nutritious, well-balanced meals. 

Thirty-four-year-old Salimata Sana lives in the village of Bougounam in northern Burkina Faso.  On this day, she is cooking porridge enriched with vitamins.  A small  group of women is watching and asking questions. 

Ms.  Sana tells the women “regular millet16 porridge doesn't give children health and strength like this enriched porridge does.” She says she added ground peanuts for  protein and fat.  She also added ground-up leaves from nearby moringa trees, which have large amounts of calcium17 and vitamins.  The mixture also includes some milk,  oil and sugar to make the soup taste better. 

She tells the women they should start giving this enriched porridge to their children when they reach six months of age. 

An aid agency trained Salimata Sana and other women in Zondoma Province how to give their children more nutritious meals.  The enriched porridge is just one example.

Ms.  Sana also tells women in neighboring villages not to over-cook vegetables.  She tells them that boiling them in water for longer than 5 or 10 minutes removes  nutrients.  And she tells them that children need to eat a mix of fruits and vegetables, not just a serving of white rice. 

Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Health says good nutrition is about both the size and quality of food. 

Betrine Ouaro is the head of the ministry’s nutrition department.  In her words, “Foods need to be rich.  Our grains are good, but you need to complement18 them with  proteins, fruits and other vitamin-rich foods.” Ms.  Ouaro says “it is not enough to give a young child millet porridge and think they have a balanced diet.”

She adds that mothers will often say their children are well fed because they do not feel hungry.  But she says having a full stomach is not a sign that the child is  well nourished.

The World Food Program says 88 percent of children under the age of five in Burkina Faso do not get enough micronutrients, such as iron, iodine19 and zinc20.   Micronutrients are important for children because they help their bodies grow. 

The Ministry of Health reports that 10 percent of children under the age of five suffer from severe malnutrition21.  But more than 20 percent of the country’s young  children weigh less than they should.

One reason is poverty.  The World Bank says almost half of the country’s people live below the national poverty line.  Foods like fruit and meat can cost a lot. 

Back in northern Burkina Faso, Salimata Sana says mothers want to feed their children the best possible food. 

But she says “it can be hard sometimes to pay for bananas and tomatoes or other produce.”  In her words, “many fruits and vegetables are only available in the city,  not in the villages.  Many families can’t afford to eat more than millet every day.  It’s just too expensive.”

Ms.  Sana says that is why telling women how to make enriched porridge is so important.  The peanuts are grown locally, and women can gather the tree leaves for free.   She says making porridge more nutritious can help growing children in a big way.

This Science in the News program was based on reports by Henry Ridgwell in London and Jennifer Lazuta in Ouagadougou.  It was written by Christopher Cruise, and  produced by June Simms.  I’m Faith Lapidus.

And I’m Christopher Cruise.  Join us again next week at this time for more news about science in Learning English on the Voice of America. 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 malaria B2xyb     
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 nutritious xHzxO     
adj.有营养的,营养价值高的
参考例句:
  • Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
  • Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。
3 swarm dqlyj     
n.(昆虫)等一大群;vi.成群飞舞;蜂拥而入
参考例句:
  • There is a swarm of bees in the tree.这树上有一窝蜜蜂。
  • A swarm of ants are moving busily.一群蚂蚁正在忙碌地搬家。
4 density rOdzZ     
n.密集,密度,浓度
参考例句:
  • The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
  • The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。
5 killing kpBziQ     
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。
6 bias 0QByQ     
n.偏见,偏心,偏袒;vt.使有偏见
参考例句:
  • They are accusing the teacher of political bias in his marking.他们在指控那名教师打分数有政治偏见。
  • He had a bias toward the plan.他对这项计划有偏见。
7 genetically Lgixo     
adv.遗传上
参考例句:
  • All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
  • Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物
8 hygiene Kchzr     
n.健康法,卫生学 (a.hygienic)
参考例句:
  • Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
  • He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。
9 vaccine Ki1wv     
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。
10 distilled 4e59b94e0e02e468188de436f8158165     
adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 );从…提取精华
参考例句:
  • The televised interview was distilled from 16 hours of film. 那次电视采访是从16个小时的影片中选出的精华。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Gasoline is distilled from crude oil. 汽油是从原油中提炼出来的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 costly 7zXxh     
adj.昂贵的,价值高的,豪华的
参考例句:
  • It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
  • This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用,左不过贵了些。
12 surgical 0hXzV3     
adj.外科的,外科医生的,手术上的
参考例句:
  • He performs the surgical operations at the Red Cross Hospital.他在红十字会医院做外科手术。
  • All surgical instruments must be sterilised before use.所有的外科手术器械在使用之前,必须消毒。
13 chronically yVsyi     
ad.长期地
参考例句:
  • Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样,凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
  • People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。
14 ministry kD5x2     
n.(政府的)部;牧师
参考例句:
  • They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
  • We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。
15 nutrients 6a1e1ed248a3ac49744c39cc962fb607     
n.(食品或化学品)营养物,营养品( nutrient的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • a lack of essential nutrients 基本营养的缺乏
  • Nutrients are absorbed into the bloodstream. 营养素被吸收进血液。 来自《简明英汉词典》
16 millet NoAzVY     
n.小米,谷子
参考例句:
  • Millet is cultivated in the middle or lower reaches of the Yellow River.在黄河中下游地区,人们种植谷子。
  • The high quality millet flour was obtained through wet milling.采用湿磨法获得了高品质的小米粉。
17 calcium sNdzY     
n.钙(化学符号Ca)
参考例句:
  • We need calcium to make bones.我们需要钙来壮骨。
  • Calcium is found most abundantly in milk.奶含钙最丰富。
18 complement ZbTyZ     
n.补足物,船上的定员;补语;vt.补充,补足
参考例句:
  • The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
  • They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。
19 iodine Da6zr     
n.碘,碘酒
参考例句:
  • The doctor painted iodine on the cut.医生在伤口上涂点碘酒。
  • Iodine tends to localize in the thyroid.碘容易集于甲状腺。
20 zinc DfxwX     
n.锌;vt.在...上镀锌
参考例句:
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
  • Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。
21 malnutrition kAhxX     
n.营养不良
参考例句:
  • In Africa, there are a lot of children suffering from severe malnutrition.在非洲有大批严重营养不良的孩子。
  • It is a classic case of malnutrition. 这是营养不良的典型病例。

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