VOA常速英语2008年-WHO Cites Slow Progress Against Tuberculosis

By Mandy Clark
London
17 March 2008

A World Health Organization report says the rate of tuberculosis¹ infections is going down across the globe, but also notes that progress in the fight against the disease is too slow. VOA's Mandy Clark reports from London.

 

Tuberculosis is a contagious² and deadly airborne bacterial³ disease that infected more than nine million people in 2006 and killed 1.5 million.

But the latest World Health Organization report has some good news - the rate of TB infection is slowing down.

Speaking at a news conference in London, one of the authors of the report, Katherine Floyd, says if diagnosis⁴ of the disease does not improve, progress will grind to a halt.

"In China they find and treat about 80 percent of the cases we estimate exist in China and that did not change between 2005 and 2006 and unless countries find even more on the cases that exist the rate of making progress will not improve," said Katherine Floyd.

The WHO report says this failure to detect new TB cases and a lack of funding for national TB programs are the main reasons for the slow advance in fighting the disease.

The World Health Organization cites a funding gap for global programs of about one-billion dollars. Its report also says a lethal⁵ combination of TB and HIV is fueling a tuberculosis epidemic⁶ in many parts of the world, especially Africa.

Floyd says treating TB patients infected with HIV remains⁷ a challenge, but she says some countries are making strides against this twin disease.

 

"There has been a lot of progress particularly in Africa in testing TB patients for HIV which actually demonstrates a willingness on the part of TB patients to be tested for HIV," she said. "So that maybe a change that has occurred over the last 5 to 10 years as there is now treatment for HIV there is more reason to know whether you have HIV or not."

 

The World Health Organization also cites other signs of hope, noting that several regions of the world are on track to achieve global targets to cut cases and deaths in half by 2015 compared to 1990 levels. These areas include Southeast Asia, the western Pacific region, the eastern Mediterranean⁸ and the Americas.

But, the report says more funds and commitment to fighting TB are needed if the hardest hit regions hope to defeat the disease.

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 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

3 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

4 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。

5 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

6 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。

7 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。

8 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。