2006年VOA标准英语-Health Experts Gather to Plan Response to

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
15 February 2006

Experts meeting in Brussels Wednesday and Thursday are promoting a series of measure to fight the spread of bird flu in the European Union. The meeting comes as new countries have detected a deadly strain in wild birds.

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Belgium's Public Health Minister Rudy Demotte, right, addresses the media in Brussels, Saturday, Jan. 14, 2006
  

The veterinary experts in Brussels have endorsed¹ plans to increase surveillance of the H5N1 strain of the virus in wild birds, and to ban imports of untreated feathers from non-European Union countries. The European Commission is also adding more than $2.25 million ($2.26 million) to  national surveillance and testing programs for early detection of bird flu outbreaks.

On Tuesday, the H5N1 strain was confirmed among wild swans in Austria. German officials says they also appear to have detected the virus among dead wild swans, although they are still waiting for definitive² results. German authorities have established a 10-kilometer surveillance zone around the area the birds were found.

And cases of the deadly strain have also been reported in Italy and Greece, as well as Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. Slovenia and Croatia are conducting further tests on suspected cases.  The recent detection of the virus among wild birds in Africa, many of whom migrate to Europe, has only heightened alarm here.

Maria Zampaglione, spokeswoman for the World Organization for Animal Health in Paris, says bird flu itself is not anything new.

"What should be stressed here is that Asian influenza³ is a virus that has always been present in wild birds, and has always been out there.  The new thing about this is the H5N1 strain that originated in Southeast Asia," she said.

For the moment, the Paris organization is not recommending European nations to adopt the most extreme measures of prevention - such as keeping poultry⁴ indoors - although Sweden, for one, has already done so.  But it does recommend the early surveillance efforts that are now being discussed in Brussels, as well as greater precautions to ensure that domestic and wild birds are kept separated.

1 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

3 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。

4 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?