2006年VOA标准英语-New TB Test Yields Quicker Results

By Jessica Berman
Washington
12 October 2006

Researchers have developed a new tuberculosis¹ test that makes a diagnosis² possible in a fraction of the time it can take using other methods. Experts say the test would be especially useful in the developing world, where the potentially fatal lung ailment³ is most common.

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An X-ray of a patient affected by tuberculosis

Each year, almost two million people worldwide die of tuberculosis, which is curable with proper treatment.

Researchers have been sounding the alarm recently about a resurgence⁵ of tuberculosis, especially drug-resistant⁶ strains of the disease.

The new test allows for a diagnosis in just seven days, and, it also determines whether the particular strain of tuberculosis will respond to drug treatment.

Dr. David Moore is with the Wellcome Trust Center for Clinical Tropical Medicine at Imperial College in London. He says the test that is currently most often used in the developing world, called the Lowenstein-Jensen test, takes almost a month to yield results.

"It is often very difficult to find that patient a month later," said Dr. Moore. "They tend not to come back. So, the argument against doing tests that take a month like Lowenstein-Jenson, and other slower, but inexpensive, culture-based methods, is that, actually, the clinical utility of a test that takes a month to get a result back is much diminished. In contrast, if you can have a result that takes a week, generally, it is easier to find those patients."

In conventional testing, it takes weeks to get a result because the bacteria from sputum coughed up by those suspected of having tuberculosis are grown in a sugary culture, and technicians make a determination by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide that is produced by the micro-organisms.

The new test also coaxes⁷ the TB bacteria to grow using a culture mixture, or broth⁸. However, researchers discovered that when they examined small samples under a microscope, they could see the formation of what they call characteristic tangles⁹ in positive TB specimens¹⁰. The samples are placed in tiny wells in microscope slides.

"The key thing that differs from previous studies is we examine that broth from an inverted¹¹ light microscope from about the fifth day after we set the culture up to detect the characteristic growth tangles of the organism mycrobacterium tuberculosis in the broth," Dr. Moore explained. "And by adding TB drugs to some of the wells, in which the broth has been inoculated¹², but not to all of them, can determine whether the organism is resistant to the drugs."

Moore says, bacteria that grow in the absence of antibiotics¹³ and stop growing when exposed to the drugs, are not resistant to treatment. But if the TB microorganism grows, despite the antibiotics, it is resistant to treatment.

Moore led a field trial of the new test in Peru that found that, in every measure, including speed of detection, accuracy and detection of multi-drug resistant strains of TB, the test out-performed Lowenstein-Jensen and the automated¹⁴ detection test used in the West.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"This method not only reduces the time from conventional third world testing, it is faster than any method used in the industrialized world today," said Dr. Michael Iseman, a specialist of pulmonary diseases at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado.

"I have done a lot of consulting in the developing world about tuberculosis," he said. "And all of us who do this have been frustrated¹⁵ at the inability to do drug cultures, and to do drug susceptibility testing. So in one swoop¹⁶, this method has the ability to address those big problems."

But it may be a little while before the new test becomes the new "gold standard" TB test.

Iseman writes in his commentary in The New England Journal, there are concerns that not all tuberculosis strains may show the characteristic "tangles" under the microscope. And the new TB cultivation¹⁷ method could present bio-safety hazards that need to be addressed.

1 tuberculosis   

n.结核病，肺结核

参考例句：

• People used to go to special health spring to recover from tuberculosis.人们常去温泉疗养胜地治疗肺结核。
• Tuberculosis is a curable disease.肺结核是一种可治愈的病。

2 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

3 ailment   

n.疾病，小病

参考例句：

• I don't have even the slightest ailment.我什么毛病也没有。
• He got timely treatment for his ailment.他的病得到了及时治疗。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 resurgence   

n.再起，复活，再现

参考例句：

• A resurgence of his grief swept over Nim.悲痛又涌上了尼姆的心头。
• Police say drugs traffickers are behind the resurgence of violence.警方说毒贩是暴力活动重新抬头的罪魁祸首。

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 coaxes   

v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的第三人称单数 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱

参考例句：

• One coaxes, the other coerces. 一个唱红脸，一个唱白脸。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Now the analyzer coaxes the virus into revealing itself. 现在的分析者们会诱使病毒显形。 来自互联网

8 broth   

n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等)

参考例句：

• Every cook praises his own broth.厨子总是称赞自己做的汤。
• Just a bit of a mouse's dropping will spoil a whole saucepan of broth.一粒老鼠屎败坏一锅汤。

9 tangles   

（使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Long hair tangles easily. 长头发容易打结。
• Tangles like this still interrupted their intercourse. 像这类纠缠不清的误会仍然妨碍着他们的交情。

10 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 inverted   

adj.反向的，倒转的v.使倒置，使反转( invert的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Only direct speech should go inside inverted commas. 只有直接引语应放在引号内。
• Inverted flight is an acrobatic manoeuvre of the plane. 倒飞是飞机的一种特技动作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 inoculated   

v.给…做预防注射( inoculate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A pedigree pup should have been inoculated against serious diseases before it's sold. 纯种狗应该在出售前注射预防严重疾病的针。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Disease can be spread by dirty tools, insects, inoculated soil. 疾病也能由不干净的工具，昆虫，接种的土壤传播。 来自辞典例句

13 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。

14 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

15 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 swoop   

n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击

参考例句：

• The plane made a swoop over the city.那架飞机突然向这座城市猛降下来。
• We decided to swoop down upon the enemy there.我们决定突袭驻在那里的敌人。

17 cultivation   

n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成

参考例句：

• The cultivation in good taste is our main objective.培养高雅情趣是我们的主要目标。
• The land is not fertile enough to repay cultivation.这块土地不够肥沃，不值得耕种。