Hepatitis Outbreak in West Darfur Camps

 

By Lisa Schlein

The World Health Organization says Hepatitis E is sweeping¹ camps for
internally displaced people in the western Darfur province of Sudan. The agency says it has confirmed more than 620 cases of Hepatitis E, including 22 dead.

The World Health Organization says this is the first time Sudan, and West Darfur in particular, has been hit with Hepatitis E.

WHO spokeswoman, Fadela Chaib, says there is no cure for this disease. While most people recover on their own, she says the fatality² rate is high among pregnant women.

"It is worrisome because it could be lethal³ for pregnant women," she said. "It is 20 percent lethal for pregnant women and there is no cure. So, the most important thing to do is prevention, to have a very good system of water and sanitation⁴ and the proper disposal of sanitary⁵ waste."

Hepatitis E causes inflammation of the liver. Contaminated water is a major risk factor. The World Health Organization says Darfur's overcrowded camps for internally displaced people are perfect breeding grounds for the disease.

The private aid agency, Doctors Without Borders, says it too is alarmed at the outbreak of Hepatitis E in Darfur's camps. It says it is trying to tackle the problem by providing safe drinking water and by improving sanitary and hygienic conditions in the camps.

Abiy Tamrat is a medical doctor with the Swiss Branch of Doctors Without Borders. He has just returned from a 10-day visit to review the agency's operations in the five camps it runs in west Darfur.

He says people in the camps are facing a severe health crisis, which is likely to get worse now that the rainy season has begun. He says diarrhea remains⁶ the number one problem. But, with the rains, he says epidemics⁷ of malaria⁸ and cholera⁹ can be expected. He says people are malnourished and this makes them more susceptible¹⁰ to disease.

"The main thing right now is to ensure a regular and adequate food access to all the camps," he said. "People really depend on this. They have been displaced from their original area. They have little in terms of reserve. So, it is of paramount¹¹ importance that uninterrupted food supply continues throughout the rainy season."

Dr. Tamrat says Doctors Without Borders is providing special therapeutic¹² feeding to severely¹³ malnourished children who are most at risk. The World Health Organization warns that an estimated 10,000 people a month are likely to die from disease without proper care.

Lisa Schlein, for VOA News, Geneva.

注释：
Hepatitis E 戊型肝炎病
fatality 死亡
lethal 致命的
sanitation 卫生，卫生设施
disposal 处理
inflammation 发炎
contaminated 被污染的
hygienic 卫生的
diarrhea 痢疾
epidemic 流行
malaria 疟疾
cholera 霍乱
malnourished 营养不良的
therapeutic 治病的

1 sweeping   

adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的

参考例句：

• The citizens voted for sweeping reforms.公民投票支持全面的改革。
• Can you hear the wind sweeping through the branches?你能听到风掠过树枝的声音吗？

2 fatality   

n.不幸，灾祸，天命

参考例句：

• She struggle against fatality in vain.她徒然奋斗反抗宿命。
• He began to have a growing sense of fatality.他开始有一种越来越强烈的宿命感。

3 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

4 sanitation   

n.公共卫生，环境卫生，卫生设备

参考例句：

• The location is exceptionally poor,viewed from the sanitation point.从卫生角度来看，这个地段非常糟糕。
• Many illnesses are the result,f inadequate sanitation.许多疾病都来源于不健全的卫生设施。

5 sanitary   

adj.卫生方面的，卫生的，清洁的，卫生的

参考例句：

• It's not sanitary to let flies come near food.让苍蝇接近食物是不卫生的。
• The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 epidemics   

n．流行病

参考例句：

• Reliance upon natural epidemics may be both time-consuming and misleading. 依靠天然的流行既浪费时间，又会引入歧途。
• The antibiotic epidemics usually start stop when the summer rainy season begins. 传染病通常会在夏天的雨季停止传播。

8 malaria   

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。

9 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

10 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

11 paramount   

a.最重要的，最高权力的

参考例句：

• My paramount object is to save the Union and destroy slavery.我的最高目标是拯救美国，摧毁奴隶制度。
• Nitrogen is of paramount importance to life on earth.氮对地球上的生命至关重要。

12 therapeutic   

adj.治疗的，起治疗作用的；对身心健康有益的

参考例句：

• Therapeutic measures were selected to fit the patient.选择治疗措施以适应病人的需要。
• When I was sad,music had a therapeutic effect.我悲伤的时候，音乐有治疗效力。

13 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。