VOA慢速英语2016 专家称Zika病毒或每年感染9300万美洲人（在线收听）

Experts: Zika Could Infect 93 Million in Americas 专家称Zika病毒或每年感染9300万美洲人

Health experts have a new warning about Zika virus. They say the virus will keep spreading before the Zika epidemic finally ends.

健康专家有一个关于寨卡病毒的新警告。他们说在寨卡病毒在最终结束之前会不断的蔓延。

The experts say a new model shows a very large number of people could become infected before then. The model is a project of researchers from England, Sweden and the United States.

专家说，一个新的模型显示大量的人可能在此之前受到感染。该模型是一个由来自英国、瑞典和美国的研究人员进行的项目。

They estimate the Zika virus could infect over 93 million people in South America, North America and the Caribbean. The model projects 1.6 million young women could be infected.

他们估计寨卡病毒可以感染南美、北美和加勒比海地区超过9300万人。根据模型，160万年轻女性可能会被感染。

Experts say a woman who is infected during the early months of her pregnancy is at risk of giving birth to a baby with microcephaly. A baby born with microcephaly has a small head and brain.

专家说一个在怀孕的头几个月被感染的女人有生下畸型婴儿的风险。一个畸型婴儿即出生时伴有小的脑袋和头脑。

The condition causes mental and physical disability, seizures and sometimes death. But experts say not every pregnant woman infected with Zika will give birth to a child with severe birth defects.

这样的身体状况会导致精神和身体残疾、癫痫发作，有时是死亡。但是专家说不是每个感染寨卡病毒的孕妇都会生出一个有严重出生缺陷的孩子。

The Associated Press says the Zika virus is spreading quickly in South America and the Caribbean. Infected mosquitoes can pass the infection to humans.

美联社说，寨卡病毒在南美和加勒比地区迅速蔓延。受感染的蚊子能感染人类。

Over 1,400 cases of the Zika virus have been reported in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control.

在美国已报道德感染寨卡病毒的病例超过1400，根据疾病控制中心。

The Zika study was published in the journal Nature Microbiology. It is the most detailed estimate to date about the spread of the virus.

微生物寨卡病毒的研究发表在《自然》杂志上。这是迄今为止对病毒传播的最详细的估计。

In developing their study, researchers used information from past epidemics of two other viruses: dengue and Chikungunya.

在他们的进一步研究中，研究人员使用从过去流行的两个其他病毒的信息:登革热、基孔肯雅热。

Dengue is in the same virus family as Zika. Chikungunya is also spread by mosquitoes. The viruses can cause headaches, muscle pain and higher than normal body temperature. But 80 percent of people who contract Zika have no symptoms.

登革热和寨卡病毒的是一个家族。基孔肯雅热也是由蚊子传播的。病毒可以引起头痛、肌肉疼痛和高于正常的体温。但是80%感染寨卡病毒的人没有症状。

Researchers also examined data on blood tests from people who have been infected with Zika. That gave them information to predict the rate of transmission at the local level.

研究人员还研究了对感染寨卡病毒的人的血液进行测试。这给他们病毒在一级地方传播速度的预测。

Unique model

独特的模式

The model took into consideration how an event called herd immunity can change the number of infections. Herd immunity happens when a disease or virus can no longer spread because so many people are infected. When that happens, others are protected against the disease.

模型考虑了被称为群体免疫如何改变感染数量的问题。群体免疫发生在一种疾病或病毒不能再传播时，因为很多人已经被感染了。当这种情况发生时，其他人免受这种疾病。

“So really there's going to be a large proportion of the population that remains uninfected after the [Zika] epidemic," said Alex Perkins.

“所以真的会有很大一部分的人口仍未感染寨卡病毒，”亚历克斯·珀金斯说。

Perkins is one of the researchers who took part in the study. He added the epidemic will die off before it can infect everyone.

帕金斯是参加这项研究的一个研究人员。他补充说流行病在感染所有人之前，会相继死去。

There is currently no vaccine to protect people against Zika virus. The World Health Organization declared the virus a public health emergency earlier this year.

目前还没有保护人们的寨卡病毒疫苗。世界卫生组织宣布今年早些时候病毒突发公共卫生事件。

Words in This Story

epidemic – n. an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people

symptom – n. a change in the body or mind which indicates that a disease is present

transmission – n. the act or process of spreading or passing something from one person or thing to another

defect – n. a part that is missing or misshaped

project – v. to plan or estimate something