VOA慢速英語:Treated Bed Nets Critical to Stopping lymphatic Filariasis

From VOA Learning English, this is the Health Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。

Scientists are working on ways to stop a disease that threatens one-fifth of the world's population. Over 120 million people are infected with lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis. The disease is found mainly in Southeast Asia and Africa. It effects the lymphatic system which is a major part of the body's natural defense for fighting disease.

科學(xué)家們正在研究如何消除威脅世界1/5人口的一種疾病。超過1.2億人感染了淋巴絲蟲病，它也被稱為象皮病。這種病主要分布在東南亞和非洲，它能影響淋巴系統(tǒng)，這是人體對抗疾病的天然防線的一個重要組成部分。

Elephantiasis can cause swelling or enlargement of skin and tissue. The cause is a tiny worm that enters and lives in lymphatic tubes for six to eight years.

象皮病能夠引起皮膚或組織腫脹。其病因是一種微小的蠕蟲進入到淋巴管并存活6到8年。

Scientists say they have been able to demonstrate that the most common cause of elephantiasis can be stopped. They are urging those at risk to sleep under nets treated with chemicals that kill a common insect - the mosquitoes.

科學(xué)家們表示，他們已經(jīng)能夠證明象皮病最常見的病因能夠被消除。他們正督促處于感染危險中的人們睡在經(jīng)過殺滅蚊蟲的化學(xué)物質(zhì)處理過的蚊帳里。

Lisa Reimer teaches at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. She formerly served in Papua New Guinea, as part of the team studying the disease. The team involved researchers from Papua New Guinea, Britain, Australia and the United States.

莉薩·雷默在利物浦熱帶醫(yī)學(xué)院任教。她曾作為研究該病的團隊的成員任職于巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞。該團隊包含了來自巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞、英國、澳大利亞和美國的研究人員。

Doctor Reimer says she was surprised at how effective anti-malaria bed nets covered with insecticide could be at fighting the disease.

雷默博士說，她對殺蟲劑處理過的防瘧疾蚊帳能夠有效對抗該疾病表示非常驚訝。

"Filariasis is only picked up by mosquitoes late in the evening, so this is the time when people are more likely to be protected by their bed nets. So we found that bed net use actually is a greater barrier against filariasis transmission whereas malaria transmission may still be occurring outside the times when the user is under the net."

她說，“絲蟲病只會由深夜的蚊子攜帶，這是一個人們很可能受到了蚊帳保護的時間。所以我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，使用蚊帳實際上是防止絲蟲病傳播的一個重大屏障，然而瘧疾傳播還是可能會在人們未在蚊帳里的其它時間發(fā)生。”

Doctors normally use drugs to fight the disease. Ms Reimer says doctors in Papua New Guinea gave the drugs to people of five villages. She says this treatment nearly ended the threat from the worm to humans, but the drugs didn't stop the threat from mosquitoes.

醫(yī)生們通常使用藥物來對抗這種疾病。雷默女士說，巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞的醫(yī)生們把藥物發(fā)給了5個村莊的人們。她說，這種處置辦法近乎消除了這種蠕蟲對人類的威脅，但這種藥物未能消除來自蚊蟲的威脅。

The treated nets block female mosquitoes from securing blood, which is necessary for them to reproduce. The insecticide also cuts the life of the insects in half.

處理過的蚊帳可以防止雌性蚊子吸血，這是它們繁殖的必要條件。殺蟲劑也將這些蚊蟲的壽命縮減了一半。

"If we can reduce mosquito-biting rates then we're able to increase the thresholds below which the disease prevalence will move to zero. So by controlling mosquitoes we're making the targets for the mass drug administration more obtainable."

她說，“如果我們能夠降低蚊蟲叮咬率，我們就能提高闕值，使該病的患病率降低到零。因此通過控制蚊蟲，我們就能使得大規(guī)模藥物治療的目標更容易實現(xiàn)。”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a goal of stopping lymphatic filariasis as a public health problem by the year 2020.

世界衛(wèi)生組織已經(jīng)設(shè)定了一個目標，在2020年前將淋巴絲蟲病作為一個公共衛(wèi)生問題予以消除。

The WHO estimates that 1.4 billion people in 73 countries are at risk of the disease. children are often infected, but they do not show signs of the disease until later in life.

世界衛(wèi)生組織預(yù)計，73個國家的14億人處于該病的風(fēng)險中。兒童往往被感染，但直到以后才會顯現(xiàn)出感染該病的征兆。