VOA标准英语2011--New Malaria Strain Difficult to Treat

New Malaria¹ Strain Difficult to Treat

Declining malaria deaths in Africa and progress toward an effective malaria vaccine² are raising hopes the disease will soon be eradicated³ worldwide. But researchers at the annual meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene⁴ in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this week unveiled a new global malaria map that raises new concerns about the disease.

Just when health experts thought they were on the winning side in the battle against malaria, a disease that kills almost 800,000 people around the world each year, a once-minor strain of the malaria parasite⁵ has now emerged as a major public health threat.

And it is a far more complicated and deadly strain than the one being targeted by vaccine.

Malaria caused by Plasmodium vivax has long been considered more benign⁶ than the disease caused by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the kind prevalent across Africa. But the new global data show that's not true, says Peter Gething of Oxford⁷ University, who spoke⁸ to us via Skype.

“Plasmodium vivax is very, very important, a big global public health problem. It kills people at a much much higher rates than was previously⁹ thought and there [are] actually more people at risk of vivax globally than there are of [plasmodium] p. falciparum," he said.

Gething is the lead researcher on the Malaria Atlas¹⁰ Project, a new effort to monitor changes in the worldwide prevalence of malaria.

Gething says about 2.8 billion people are at risk from this new variety of malaria, and he adds that the tools for fighting the disease range from ineffectual to non-existent.

“[An] Important fact about vivax is, it is not a large public health problem in Africa, where falciparum is predominant. Vivax is an important problem in those parts of the world where the area is very populous¹¹, so it's a very significant problem, for example, in India, Indonesia, and throughout much of central and south East Asia," he said.

Experts in the field also note that control measures such as pesticide-coated bed nets are not as effective against the vivax parasites¹² because the mosquitoes that carry them are more likely to bite their victims outside the house than inside.

"It [Plasmodium Vivax] can hibernate¹³ in people's livers and lay there dormant¹⁴ for months or even years. And when it’s in the liver that particular stage of parasite is not responsive to the normal bloodstream drugs that we use against falciparum. So, you can treat the person and they will recover, but you don’t cure the underlying¹⁵ infection," he said.

The best known drug against vivax-induced malaria is primaquine, but it requires a 14-day regimen that's hard to follow in many malaria-prone regions of the world. The drug also causes serious side effects in people with an inherited blood disorder¹⁶. That is fairly common in regions where vivax is endemic. Research is underway on some promising¹⁷ new drugs to fight the vivax malaria parasite.

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

2 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。

3 eradicated   

画着根的

参考例句：

• Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。
• The disease has been eradicated from the world. 这种疾病已在全世界得到根除。

4 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。

5 parasite   

n.寄生虫；寄生菌；食客

参考例句：

• The lazy man was a parasite on his family.那懒汉是家里的寄生虫。
• I don't want to be a parasite.I must earn my own way in life.我不想做寄生虫，我要自己养活自己。

6 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

7 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

11 populous   

adj.人口稠密的，人口众多的

参考例句：

• London is the most populous area of Britain.伦敦是英国人口最稠密的地区。
• China is the most populous developing country in the world.中国是世界上人口最多的发展中国家。

12 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

13 hibernate   

v.冬眠，蛰伏

参考例句：

• Bears often hibernate in caves.熊常在山洞里冬眠。
• Some warm-blooded animals do not need to hibernate.一些温血动物不需要冬眠。

14 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

15 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

16 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

17 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。