HEALTH REPORT - Vaccine Shows Promise Against a Big Killer o

HEALTH REPORT - Vaccine¹ Shows Promise Against a Big Killer² of Babies in the Developing World
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Wednesday, April 13, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Children under the age of two and old people are at the greatest risk from infections caused by pneumococcal bacteria. The World Health Organization estimates that each year more than one and one-half million lives are lost as a result.

Most of the young victims are in developing countries. In fact, researchers say pneumococcal infections kill more children even than malaria³.

Now a study in Gambia, West Africa, has added to hopes about a prevention that could become widely used. If that happens, researchers say the vaccine could save hundreds of thousands of children each year.

 
Meningitis bacteria
The most serious infections caused by pneumococcal bacteria are meningitis, sepsis and pneumonia⁴. Pneumonia is a lung disease. Sepsis poisons the blood. Meningitis infects the brain and spinal⁵ cord. Experts say up to seventy percent of children in developing countries who get pneumococcal meningitis die or become disabled.

Experts say pneumococcal infections are getting more and more difficult to treat. The bacteria are becoming resistant⁶ to commonly used antibiotics⁷. That is because these medicines have been used too commonly.

There are vaccines⁸ that can be given to babies to prevent pneumococcal disease. In the United States, such a vaccine has been used since two thousand.

The one tested in Gambia had already been shown to work in cities in South Africa. Researchers wanted to know if this vaccine could also be effective in less developed communities, away from cities. Felicity Cutts of the Medical Research Council in Britain says the results demonstrate that it could. Professor Cutts led the four-year study.

The researchers chose Gambia because of its high death rates among babies and limited health care. They vaccinated⁹ more than seventeen thousand babies.

The study found sixteen percent fewer deaths among those who received the vaccine than among those who did not. Also, reduced numbers of children became sick enough to need hospital care.

In all, there were seventy-seven percent fewer infections caused by the groups of organisms targeted by the vaccine. As a result, the study says there were thirty-seven percent fewer cases of pneumonia.

The governments of Gambia, Britain and the United States supported the study. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals¹⁰ provided the test vaccine. The Lancet published the findings.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk. I'm Gwen Outen.

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 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。

3 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。

4 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

5 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

6 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。

7 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。

8 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。

9 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

10 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》