VOA慢速英语20060116a

DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Studies Say New Rotavirus Vaccines² Are Safe and EffectiveBy Jill Moss³

Broadcast: Monday, January 16, 2006

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Studies show that two new vaccines are safe and effective to protect young children against a common cause of intestinal⁴ infection.


Guatemalan baby infected with rotavirus, 2004.

Rotavirus can cause severe diarrhea. The loss of fluids can be deadly unless it is treated. Most of the estimated half-million deaths each year are in poor countries. In fact, rotavirus disease is a leading killer⁵ of young children in the developing world.

The newly reported studies are among the largest vaccine¹ tests ever done. Together, they involved more than one hundred thirty thousand children. The drug company GlaxoSmithKline makes one of the vaccines, Rotarix. Merck makes the other, called RotaTeq.

The study supported by GlaxoSmithKline involved more than sixty-three thousand children, mostly in Latin America. The researchers say Rotarix was eighty-five percent effective in protecting against severe rotavirus disease.

In the study for Merck, scientists say RotaTeq was ninety-eight percent effective. They tested it with sixty-eight thousand children mainly in developed places, including the United States.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the studies earlier this month. It also published a commentary by two scientists at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They say differences in the two studies and the populations observed might explain the different results. They say Rotarix may be just as effective as RotaTeq.

GlaxoSmithKline launched Rotarix in Mexico last year. It says the vaccine is now approved in twelve Latin American countries and also the Philippines and Singapore. And it says Rotarix could soon become the first rotavirus vaccine approved for children in the European Union. The company also plans to seek approval in the United States.

Both vaccine makers⁷ have announced plans for tests in poor counties in Africa and Asia.

RotaTeq is not for sale yet. Merck says the vaccine could get final approval later this year in the United States.

In nineteen ninety-nine, the drug maker⁶ Wyeth removed a rotavirus vaccine from the American market. That drug was blamed for some cases of a blockage⁸ in which one part of the intestine⁹ slides into the next. The studies of Rotarix and RotaTeq, however, say the two new vaccines did not show any increase in risk for that condition.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. You can read and listen to our reports at www.unsv.com. I'm Steve Ember.

1 vaccine   

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。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

4 intestinal   

adj.肠的；肠壁；肠道细菌

参考例句：

• A few other conditions are in high intestinal obstruction. 其它少数情况是高位肠梗阻。 来自辞典例句
• This complication has occasionally occurred following the use of intestinal antiseptics. 这种并发症偶而发生在使用肠道抗菌剂上。 来自辞典例句

5 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。

6 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

7 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

9 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。