VOA标准英语2011--Haiti's Cholera Epidemic Not Waning;Vaccination to Begin

Haiti's Cholera¹ Epidemic² Not Waning;Vaccination³ to Begin

The United States' most prominent public health agency is calling the cholera epidemic in Haiti “the worst cholera outbreak in recent history.” The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says cholera continues to spread across Haiti a year after it was first identified, despite better access to clean water. This, as the United Nations faces a lawsuit⁴ for alleged⁵ unsanitary conditions at a U.N. base that may have introduced cholera into Haiti. Our reporter takes us to a cholera clinic in Haiti, just a few kilometers from where the cholera outbreak in Haiti is thought to have begun.

She stands in the morning heat, in pain and worry. For her baby and herself. "Susan" won't give her real name because of the stigma⁶ of her disease. She walked and rode motorcycles for six hours to arrive at this cholera treatment center.

“I was really worried this morning, especially when I was walking because I was really concerned I might lose the baby," said 'Susan'. " So I knew I had to get here and see what result I had.”

Cholera can kill within hours by depleting⁷ body fluids through uncontrollable diarrhea and vomiting⁸. Susan's sister also has it. Doctors know exactly how cholera spreads. Some Haitians don't, like Susan's mother.

"Only God knows what causes cholera," said 'Susan's' mother.

The cause .. is contaminated water.

And a U.N. panel of experts has traced it back to Nepalese peacekeepers at this U.N. base.
The disease has sickened nearly half a million Haitians in the past year, and killed more than 6,500. During the height of the rainy season, patients here were three to a bed.

Just down the road from the treatment center is the Latem River, where the first cases of cholera were reported. It flows into the l’Artibonite River, the largest in Haiti, spreading the disease within days to rural areas with no access to clean water.”

"You will see people bathing in the river, doing their laundry in the river, drinking from the river, bathing their animals and having them drink in the river," said Cate Oswald.

Cate Oswald is with Partners in Health, the group that runs the center. It and another organization, GHESKIO, want to begin a cholera vaccination pilot program in January. But other groups argue a $900,000 price tag is too costly⁹, and it would only reach 1 per cent of the population. Others worry the Haitian effort will deplete¹⁰ the global vaccine¹¹ supply.

So, meantime, the centers train Haitians to treat drinking water with chlorine tablets and to practice good hygiene¹². But Dr. Jean William Pape with GHESKIO says those actions often do not continue at home.

“You tell people to wash their hands," said Dr. Pape. "They don’t have enough water to drink. How are they going to wash their hands?”

Back at the treatment center, "Susan" feels her baby moving. She will leave in a couple days to return to her home high up in these mountains. There, she has no access to indoor plumbing¹³ or latrines.

1 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

2 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。

3 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

4 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

5 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

6 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

7 depleting   

使大大的减少，使空虚( deplete的现在分词 )； 耗尽，使枯竭

参考例句：

• Regulations are outlawing certain refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, which contain ozone-depleting chemicals. 随后出台的政策禁用了部分制冷剂，如破坏臭氧层的氟氯碳化合物。
• Aging, being a series of continual losses, can be keenly depleting. 老龄化，作为一个系列的连续亏损，可以清楚地消耗。

8 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 deplete   

v.弄空，排除，减轻，减少...体液，放去...的血

参考例句：

• Most native mammal species have been severely depleted.大多数本地哺乳动物的数量都已经大大减少了。
• Elastic collisions deplete very little of the electron's energy.弹性碰撞中电子减少的能量非常少。

11 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。

12 hygiene   

n.健康法，卫生学 （a.hygienic）

参考例句：

• Their course of study includes elementary hygiene and medical theory.他们的课程包括基础卫生学和医疗知识。
• He's going to give us a lecture on public hygiene.他要给我们作关于公共卫生方面的报告。

13 plumbing   

n.水管装置；水暖工的工作；管道工程v.用铅锤测量（plumb的现在分词）；探究

参考例句：

• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche. 她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。
• They're going to have to put in new plumbing. 他们将需要安装新的水管。 来自《简明英汉词典》