2006年VOA标准英语-Mouth Disorder Ravages Many Children in De

By Jessica Berman
Washington
18 January 2006

Noma, a disfiguring mouth disease, can be found in many extremely poor countries, but the condition is especially common in sub-Saharan Africa.

Noma comes from the Greek word nemo, which means to "graze" or to "devour," and its ravages¹ can be seen on the faces of children who have it. The disease is characterized by massive mouth ulcers³ that erode⁴ the gums and then the face.

It was common in Europe and North America until the early 20th century when it disappeared. But it surfaced again during World War II in the German concentration camps Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen.

In 1998, the World Health Organization estimated 140,000 children around the world are afflicted⁵ each year with noma. But Cyril Enwonwu, a professor of biomedical sciences at the School of Dentistry at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, says the WHO figure greatly underestimates the actual number of victims. He believes WHO counted only those youngsters who are treated in hospitals, which he says represents only 10 percent of the cases of noma.

"Many children with noma are hidden, or they die before reaching the hospitals," he said.

Dr. Enwonwu saw his first case of noma while visiting a farming community in northwestern Nigeria to give routine dental examinations to sick children.

According to Dr. Enwonwu, although noma is found in extremely poor areas of South Asia and South America, most cases occur in poor regions of sub-Saharan Africa.

Experts are not sure what causes the disease, but they have discovered a pattern: Noma usually strikes children between the ages of one and four after an illness such as measles⁶ or malaria⁷. The children are not vaccinated⁸ against routine illnesses, their families sleep with their animals, and they drink filthy⁹ water. Also, children with noma are extremely malnourished. Death occurs in 70 to 80 percent of the cases from massive infection.

There's also stigma¹⁰ attached to the disfiguring disease, and Dr. Enwonwu believes children with noma are sometimes the victim of infanticide.

"It's not something one can speak of with any degree of certainty because people are reluctant to talk about it," he noted¹¹. "But I believe in some areas, where noma occurs, some infants are literally¹² neglected and literally left to die."

Dr. Enwonwu is urging international health officials to focus resources toward ensuring the immunization, nutritional¹³ and dental needs of families at risk for noma, including treating any suspicious mouth lesions.

Professor Enwonwu acknowledges he is fighting an uphill battle.

"I get very emotional when I talk about this disease," he said. "Each time I go into the villages, I keep asking myself, 'Why should this occur in this time in human history? Why should it occur to children?' We don't have an answer yet."

Professor Cyril Enwonwu described noma in an essay entitled "The Ulcer² of Poverty," in the January 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

1 ravages   

劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹

参考例句：

• the ravages of war 战争造成的灾难
• It is hard for anyone to escape from the ravages of time. 任何人都很难逃避时间的摧残。

2 ulcer   

n.溃疡，腐坏物

参考例句：

• She had an ulcer in her mouth.她口腔出现溃疡。
• A bacterium is identified as the cause for his duodenal ulcer.一种细菌被断定为造成他十二指肠溃疡的根源。

3 ulcers   

n.溃疡( ulcer的名词复数 )；腐烂物；道德败坏；腐败

参考例句：

• Detachment of the dead cells produces erosions and ulcers. 死亡细胞的脱落，产生糜烂和溃疡。 来自辞典例句
• 75% of postbulbar ulcers occur proximal to the duodenal papilla. 75％的球后溃疡发生在十二指肠乳头近侧。 来自辞典例句

4 erode   

v.侵蚀，腐蚀，使...减少、减弱或消失

参考例句：

• Once exposed,soil is quickly eroded by wind and rain.一旦暴露在外，土壤很快就会被风雨侵蚀。
• Competition in the financial marketplace has eroded profits.金融市场的竞争降低了利润。

5 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

6 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

7 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。

8 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？

9 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

10 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

13 nutritional   

adj.营养的，滋养的

参考例句：

• A diet lacking in nutritional value will not keep a person healthy.缺乏营养价值的饮食不能维持人的健康。
• The labels on food products give a lot of information about their nutritional content.食品上的标签提供很多关于营养成分的信息。