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Scientists: Avian Flu in Migratory1 Birds Raises Fears of Virus Spread
科学担心禽流感在侯鸟中传播
The sick and dying waterfowl can be easily spotted2 at the Lake Qinghai nature reserve. If not paralyzed, they stagger and have tilted3 necks, classic symptoms of avian flu in such birds.
The outbreak was first detected on April 30 and within three weeks; it killed about 1,500 birds, mostly geese, but also two gull4 varieties. Now, the World Health Organization estimates that about 6,000 have died.
In a new paper in the journal Nature, Chinese scientists say this is the first evidence that avian flu transmission has spread beyond domesticated6 poultry7 into wild bird populations far away from farms. Hong Kong University researcher Yi Guan says the expansion could signal an even further spread of the disease once the flocks begin migrating from the Chinese lake.
Yi Guan: You already know we have a big problem in Southeast Asia. Now this has become a new challenge for us.
Mr. Yi and colleagues say the infected bar-headed geese at the lake are capable of flying over the Himalayas at a range of 16 hundred kilometers a day.
That migration8 will not be long in coming. Microbiologist George Gao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing says the birds breed at the lake from the end of April only until the end of July.
George Gao: So they are flying out, soon. The problem is if there is any carrier, they might carry this to Tibet, India, and Southeast Asia. So that is something we're worried [about]. But whether or not some survivors9 will carry the virus, we don't know yet.
Mr. Gao's team reports in the journal "Science" that they isolated10 several viruses from the birds and found that each shows the genetic11 hallmarks of a highly virulent12 strain. According to the "Nature" article by Yi Guan's group in Hong Kong, it is closely related to the strain that has infected poultry and people in Thailand and Vietnam.
Public health experts fear that it will merge13 with human influenza14 in a patient and create a strain that more easily circulates among people and causes a global pandemic that kills millions.
World Health Organization spokesman Dick Thompson says the birds at the Chinese nature reserve should be watched closely.
Dick Thompson: There's an urgent need to sample and tag and track as many of these species as feasible, especially considering the narrow time frame that we've got available to do it. We need more information on the migratory routes regarding these birds.
The World Health Organization has urged China to increase its testing of the wild geese and gulls15.
David McAlary, VOA news, Washington.
注释:
migratory bird 候鸟
paralyze [5pArElaiz] vt. 使瘫痪
stagger [5stA^E] v. 摇晃
symptom [5simptEm] n. 症状
transmission [trAnz5miFEn] n. 转播
domesticate5 [dE5mestikeit] vt. 驯养
poultry [5pEultri] n. 家禽
hallmark [5hC:lmB:k] n. 特点
1 migratory | |
n.候鸟,迁移 | |
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2 spotted | |
adj.有斑点的,斑纹的,弄污了的 | |
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3 tilted | |
v. 倾斜的 | |
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4 gull | |
n.鸥;受骗的人;v.欺诈 | |
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5 domesticate | |
vt.驯养;使归化,使专注于家务 | |
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6 domesticated | |
adj.喜欢家庭生活的;(指动物)被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 poultry | |
n.家禽,禽肉 | |
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8 migration | |
n.迁移,移居,(鸟类等的)迁徙 | |
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9 survivors | |
幸存者,残存者,生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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10 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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11 genetic | |
adj.遗传的,遗传学的 | |
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12 virulent | |
adj.有毒的,有恶意的,充满敌意的 | |
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13 merge | |
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体 | |
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14 influenza | |
n.流行性感冒,流感 | |
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15 gulls | |
n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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