2 More Die in Asian Bird Flu Outbreak

2 More Die in Asian Bird Flu Outbreak

Katherine Maria

The human death toll¹ from the bird flu has risen to 12 and the World Health Organization says China needs to give more information about the disease's spread as more provinces announce outbreaks in chickens.

An 18-year-old man became the ninth person in Vietnam to die after contracting the H5N1 virus, which causes bird flu. Of the 10 confirmed human bird flu cases in Vietnam, only one person is still alive.

Officials in Thailand also said Monday that the disease has killed a 58-year-old woman, bringing the number of deaths there to three. More than a dozen other people in Thailand are suspected bird flu cases.

The virus has spread to poultry² in at least 10 Asian countries, including a third of China's provinces. So far, the only human cases this year have been in Vietnam and Thailand, but U.N. experts say it is possible that human cases elsewhere have gone undetected.

Roy Wadia, a spokesman for the World Health Organization in Beijing, says China needs to give more information about how it is tracking the disease in chickens. "We would like a quick assessment³ of the surveillance systems, especially in the high-risk areas, which have large poultry populations. Secondly⁴, the vaccination⁵ program that they have for these animal and birds."

Another WHO official said the spread of the disease in China raises many questions because it appears to be skipping around the country. He said that may mean poorer provinces in China's central region lack the medical infrastructure⁶ to quickly find and report outbreaks.

Experts also say there is a possibility that human cases are going undetected in Indonesia, which has been slow to give details about the outbreak there among poultry. Indonesia's poverty and vast stretch of islands makes it harder to track disease outbreaks.

Although the WHO has said that two Vietnamese women may have caught the bird flu from an infected relative, scientists say human-to-human transmission seems quite limited. They also say the virus does not seem to spread efficiently⁷ among humans.

The H5N1 virus was first detected when it crossed from chickens to humans in Hong Kong in 1997. It infected 18 people, killing⁸ six. This is the largest outbreak ever recorded and more than 45 million chickens in Asia reportedly have been culled⁹ to try to stop the spread of the virus.

 

注释：

toll [tEul] n. 钟声

outbreak [5autbreik] n. （疾病的）发作

contract [5kCntrAkt] v. 感染

confirmed [kEn5fE:md] adj. 证实的

undetected [5Qndi5tektid] adj. 未被发现的，未被识破的

track [trAk] vt. 跟踪，追踪

assessment [E5sesmEnt] n. 评估，估计

surveillance [sE:5veilEns] n. 监视，监督

high-risk areas  高危地区

vaccination [7vAksi5neiFEn] n. <医>接种疫苗，种痘

skip [skip] v. 跳

mean [mi:n] adj. 简陋的

infrastructure [5infrE5strQktFE] n. 基本设施

stretch [stretF] n. 片，伸展

 

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

3 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

4 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

5 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

8 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

9 culled   

v.挑选，剔除( cull的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The herd must be culled. 必须有选择地杀掉部分牧畜。 来自辞典例句
• The facts were culled from various sources. 这些事实是从各方收集到的。 来自辞典例句