2006年VOA标准英语-UN Official Praises Asia's Bird Flu Efforts

By Ron Corben
Bangkok
20 October 2006

The top United Nations official handling avian flu says Asia has shown significant progress in preparing to fight the spread of the virus. But the official warns that more help is needed to support Indonesia, where a majority of the country's provinces have reported the presence of the disease.

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United Nations officials say Asia needs to increasingly focus on medium- to longer-term efforts to control the spread of avian flu virus.

David Nabarro, the senior U.N. coordinator¹ for avian and human influenza², says, overall, Asia has registered significant progress in the past year in preparing to stem the spread of avian flu.

Nabarro, and other U.N. officials, say Indonesia remains³ the key country of concern, and is in need of greater international assistance.

"Indonesia … there's a lot more to do," he said. "The challenge of improving animal health services, and also scaling up human health capacity, continues to be substantial in that country." 

Indonesian chicken market workers walk past a stack of chicken cages at a market Tuesday Oct. 17, 2006 in Jakarta, Indonesia

Indonesia has recorded the highest number of human fatalities⁴ from bird flu - at least 55 deaths. Worldwide, the H5N1 strain of the virus has killed more than 150 people in nine countries since 2003.

Hiroyuki Konuma, deputy regional director for the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), says the disease is firmly established in Indonesia.

"The virus is widely spreading at the moment, and, according to the source of information from the FAO, out of 33 provinces, the majority of provinces have avian influenza problems," said Konuma.

Indonesia has been criticized for resisting mass culling⁵ of infected poultry⁶. On Friday, officials there announced plans to ban city residents from keeping free-roaming backyard poultry, in a bid to prevent the virus spreading to people. But they did not say when the measure would come into effect.

Indonesia also says it has been improving bird flu education and awareness⁷ programs.

The U.N.'s Nabarro warned Friday that a bird flu epidemic⁸ among humans could begin anywhere, not just in countries like Indonesia that showed higher concentrations of the virus.

Nabarro is on his fourth visit to the region to review bird flu preparedness. He praised Vietnam and Cambodia for their avian flu preparations, and singled out Burma, also known as Myanmar, for its open and cooperative approach on avian flu issues.

"There has been total openness in communicating with the officials of the U.N. system on issues to do with avian influenza, and we are very satisfied with the way in which the Myanmar authorities responded," he said.

A key concern now for countries in the region is the approaching winter. The number of flu cases typically increases during the cold season, from November to February.

So far, most bird flu cases in people have been caused through contact with infected poultry, but scientists are concerned the virus could mutate into a form more easily spread among humans, possibly causing a pandemic.

1 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

2 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 fatalities   

n.恶性事故( fatality的名词复数 )；死亡；致命性；命运

参考例句：

• Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities. 有几个人受伤，但没有人死亡。
• The accident resulted in fatalities. 那宗意外道致多人死亡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 culling   

n.选择，大批物品中剔出劣质货v.挑选，剔除( cull的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The mathematicians turned to culling periodic solutions. 数学家们转而去挑选周期解。 来自辞典例句
• It took us a week to find you, a week of culling out prejudice and hatred. 我们花了一个星期的时间找到你们，把偏见和憎恨剔除出去。 来自演讲部分

6 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?

7 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

8 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。