VOA常速英语2007年-Experts Say New Drugs, Rapid Diagnosis Needed f

By Scott Bobb
Johannesburg
12 November 2007

Experts on lung disease meeting in South Africa are warning the world could face a tuberculosis¹ crisis if drug resistant² strains of TB are not contained and if TB testing does not become a regular part of HIV treatment. VOA's Scott Bobb reports from our bureau in Johannesburg.

Three thousand experts from 100 countries ended a five-day conference in Cape³ Town warning that urgent measures are needed to address the spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis and its growing presence among victims of HIV/AIDS.

One-and-one-half million people died of tuberculosis last year. Nine million new cases were reported. Nearly one-half million were resistant to the main anti-TB drugs. A fraction of these, 400 in South Africa, were resistant to almost all drugs known to science and nearly always fatal.

One of the conference organizers, Nils Billo of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, said at the same time no new TB drug has been developed in more than 40 years.

"It is urgent to find new drugs. It is urgent to find new vaccines⁴. It is a scandal that governments are not putting more money into this," said Billo. "And one of the reasons this is happening is that many companies are not really interested to invest in poor countries. Tuberculosis is a disease of the poor unfortunately and companies hesitate to invest in drug development [there]."

He said wealthy nations should provide more funding while developing nations should focus on prevention measures such as education and early diagnosis⁵.

HIV sufferers are particularly susceptible⁶ to tuberculosis. One-third of the world's 40 million people with HIV also have tuberculosis. In South Africa 60 percent are infected with both diseases. Their death rate is five times that of people infected with tuberculosis alone.

Billo says as a result treatment programs should be administered together and victims of one infection should be routinely tested for the other.

"It is important that people who come for a TB diagnosis, if they get tested positive for tuberculosis they should immediately or at the same time get tested for HIV. I think that is a very important point that has not yet been implemented⁸ programmatically in most of the countries," added Billo.

The experts say tobacco, another major cause of lung disease, is also placing strain on health care systems.

Billo says the five million annual tobacco-related deaths are expected to double in the next 23 years and developing nations will be hardest hit.

"So it is critical that countries ratify⁹ the framework convention on tobacco control and that they implement⁷ the major tobacco control measures," said Billo.

These measures include higher taxes on tobacco products, enforcement of smoke-free zones and bans on tobacco advertisements.

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 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。

3 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 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。

6 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

7 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

8 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

9 ratify   

v.批准，认可，追认

参考例句：

• The heads of two governments met to ratify the peace treaty.两国政府首脑会晤批准和平条约。
• The agreement have to be ratify by the board.该协议必须由董事会批准。