2007年VOA标准英语-Surge in Dengue Fever Raises Alarm in Southeast

By Claudia Blume
Hong Kong
24 June 2007

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Cesar Acuna, 57, lies in a hospital bed recovering from dengue fever in Asuncion, 2 Mar 2007

Southeast Asian nations are worried about a surge in dengue fever this year. Experts say the disease, which usually gets less attention than more high-profile health threats such as bird flu, is spreading due to increased urbanization, migration² and travel in the region. Claudia Blume reports from VOA's Asia News Center in Hong Kong.

In Malaysia, more than 20,000 people caught dengue fever in the first five months of this year, 50 percent more than in the same period a year earlier. Forty-eight people died of the disease, an increase in mortality of about 70 percent compared to 2006. Dengue fever is also on the rise in Vietnam and Thailand. Singapore reported almost 3,000 dengue cases in the first half of this year, more than twice as many as in the same period last year.

In Cambodia, the disease killed at least 109 children this year - three times as many as in the first half of 2006. Ngan Chantha, director of Cambodia's national anti-dengue fever program, fears the death toll³ could rise even more in coming months.

Chantha says he is worried because it is only June, and dengue fever usually peaks at the height of the rainy season in July and August.

Dengue is a viral disease transmitted mainly by a type of mosquito common in Southeast Asia. Patients suffer from high fever, nausea⁴ and intense joint⁵ pain. In severe cases, the disease can be fatal.

The earlier-than-usual arrival of the rainy season in parts of the region this year is partly to blame for the increase in dengue cases. The growth of cities across the tropics is another cause.

The mosquitoes that carry the disease usually breed in containers filled with rainwater, such as discarded plastic bottles or tires. In Southeast Asia's rapidly growing cities with sprawling⁶ construction sites and garbage dumps, mosquitoes find ample breeding ground.

Steven Bjorge is an epidemiologist for the World Health Organization in Indonesia. He says increased migration into urban centers has increased the frequency of outbreaks. Migrants, unlike people born in the city, have not built up an immune system to different strains of the virus.

"In Jakarta, a city of 12 million people, there is a lot of in-migration from rural areas of Java, Bali and Sumatra and in many cases, those people are not immune so they provide the place that another epidemic⁷ could get started," said Bjorge.

Bjorge says travel also spreads the disease. One or two infected tourists traveling to the Maldives, for example, could cause a small epidemic there if mosquitoes that transmit the disease bite them.

There is no treatment or vaccine⁸ for dengue fever. The only way to prevent it is to remove the mosquitoes' breeding grounds.

1 mar   

vt.破坏，毁坏，弄糟

参考例句：

• It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence.大人们照例不参加这样的野餐以免扫兴。
• Such a marriage might mar your career.这样的婚姻说不定会毁了你的一生。

2 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

3 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

4 nausea   

n.作呕，恶心；极端的憎恶(或厌恶)

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕期常有恶心的现象。
• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

7 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。

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。