VOA慢速英语2012 Health Report - Worries Grow About Treating Gonorrhea

 

Health Report - Worries Grow About Treating Gonorrhea

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Each year an estimated one hundred six million people get infected with gonorrhea. This sexually transmitted disease is getting harder and harder to treat.

The World Health Organization says gonorrhea is increasingly resistant¹ to antibiotics³. The WHO warns that there are few treatment options available, and that the world is running out of ways to cure it.

Manjula Lusti-Narasimhan is a scientist in the Department of Sexually Transmitted Diseases at the WHO. She explains what could happen if this bacterial⁴ disease becomes untreatable.

MANJULA LUSTI-NARASIMHAN: "For men and women of reproductive age, they could become infertile⁵. For women who are pregnant, they could have ectopic pregnancies⁶ or spontaneous abortions⁷ that could increase maternal⁸ deaths. And for infants born to these women with untreated gonorrhea, we already know that over half of them develop severe eye infections and many of these could lead to blindness."

Gonorrhea is one of four major sexually transmitted infections that can be cured. The other three are chlamydial infection, syphilis and chancroid.

But the organism that causes gonococcal infections has developed resistance to almost every class of antibiotic² that exists. Resistance is caused by the overuse of antibiotics and the use of poor quality antibiotics. It also results from natural genetic⁹ changes, or mutations, within disease organisms.

The WHO says it does not know the extent of the resistance worldwide. This is because of a lack of good information in many countries and a lack of research. But it says cases of resistance to treatment are already being reported in several countries. These include Australia, France, Japan, Norway, Sweden and Britain.

The WHO is calling for smarter use of antibiotics and more research into new ways to treat the infections. Dr. Lusti-Marasimhan says there is no current research into new drug treatments for gonorrhea.

MANJULA LUSTI-NARASIMHAN: "We have no plan B right now. There has been this general complacency that has set in because so far, you pop a pill, you get cured, end of story. And, we are no longer there. We are in a state right now where in so many places this organism is rapidly developing resistance. So we do need to start looking into the research."

The World Health Organization is part of the United Nations. The WHO is calling for urgent action to prevent the spread of untreatable gonorrhea. A new global action plan calls for increased monitoring and reporting of resistant strains of the disease. The plan also calls for better efforts to prevent, diagnose and control the infections.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report. You can find links to more information about gonorrhea at www.voanews.cn. I'm Faith Lapidus.

1 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

2 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

3 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

4 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

5 infertile   

adj.不孕的；不肥沃的，贫瘠的

参考例句：

• Plants can't grow well in the infertile land.在贫瘠的土地上庄稼长不好。
• Nobody is willing to till this infertile land.这块薄田没有人愿意耕种。

6 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

7 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网

8 maternal   

adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的

参考例句：

• He is my maternal uncle.他是我舅舅。
• The sight of the hopeless little boy aroused her maternal instincts.那个绝望的小男孩的模样唤起了她的母性。

9 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。