DEVELOPMENT REPORT - Dengue Fever

DEVELOPMENT REPORT – September 2, 2002: Dengue Fever

By Jill Moss¹

This is Bill White with the VOA Special English Development Report.

The World Health Organization says dengue (DEN-gay) fever is increasing in parts of Latin² America and
Southeast Asia. Health officials say the disease³ continues to be a major public health concern in countries with
hot climates. People suffer from the disease in more than one-hundred nations in Africa, the Americas, the
eastern Mediterranean⁴, Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific.

Mosquito insects spread the dengue virus when they feed on the blood of an infected
person. The disease spreads quickly in big cities where living conditions are not
clean. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water storage areas or where bodily waste is
collected. The W-H-O says better waste removal⁵ and water storage systems could
stop mosquitoes from reproducing⁶ in those places.

There are four different forms of the dengue virus. Because of this, no drug has been
developed to fully⁷ prevent the disease. However, researchers believe a medical
vaccine⁸ may be developed in several years.

The last major increase in dengue fever was reported in nineteen-ninety-eight. The World Health Organization
says more than one-million cases were reported that year. Health officials say this was a record number.
However, they suspect that more than fifty-million people are infected with the disease around the world each
year. The W-H-O estimates⁹ that about forty percent of the world’s population is at risk of getting dengue fever.

The disease affects babies, children and young adults. A person with dengue fever has a high body temperature
and severe pain in the head, muscles and bones. People infected with the disease do not usually die. However, the
most serious form of the disease is dengue hemorrhagic fever. It kills about five percent of victims. Most of them
are very young. Signs of this form of the disease include bleeding inside the body.

The only method to control or prevent dengue fever is to kill mosquitoes carrying the disease. Most countries
already use chemicals to kill mosquitoes. However, health problems develop when countries stop controlling
mosquitoes when the number of cases of the disease is low. The W-H-O says the spread of dengue fever could be
reduced if mosquito control programs were carried out all the time.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. This is Bill White.

Email this article to a friend
Printer Friendly Version

1 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。

2 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

3 disease   

n.疾病，弊端

参考例句：

• The doctors are trying to stamp out the disease.医生正在尽力消灭这种疾病。
• He fought against the disease for a long time.他同疾病做了长时间的斗争。

4 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

5 removal   

n.去除，消除；挪走，移走，搬迁

参考例句：

• After the removal of the soup,fish was served.汤撤去后，鱼就上来了。
• The factory announced its removal to another town.这家工厂宣布迁往另一座城镇。

6 reproducing   

复制( reproduce的现在分词 )； 重现； 再版； 生殖

参考例句：

• Mind has become self-reproducing through man's capacity to transmit experience and its products cumulatively. 通过传递生活经验和积累创造的产品，人类的智慧在不断地进行着自我丰富。
• Spores form a lipid membrane during the process of reproducing. 孢于在生殖过程中形成类脂膜。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 预防生物武器

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 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。

9 estimates   

估计

参考例句：

• Unofficial estimates put the figure at over two million. 非官方的估计数字为200万以上。
• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》