VOA标准英语2011--Malaria Drugs Add to Bed Net Protection

New studies confirm that giving anti-malaria¹ drugs to children who are already sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets provides additional protection in helping² control the disease.
Smallpox³ was conquered with a single vaccine⁴. The fight against malaria seems to require an assortment⁵ of tools, from land drainage to insecticide-treated bed nets.
One of the newer approaches is called Intermittent⁶ Preventive Treatment, or IPT, which involves giving anti-malaria medication once a month or so to people living where malaria is endemic, regardless of whether they are infected or not.
Some studies have already shown IPT to be effective in children and pregnant mothers. The latest studies try to answer the question of whether the treatment would give additional protection to children sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets.
"So the idea was to try and find out whether intermittent preventive treatment can really reduce incidence of malaria, whether it has any additional benefit," said Diadier Diallo of the London School of Hygiene⁷ and Tropical Medicine. He led a study of IPT effectiveness in Burkina Faso.
Diallo says there was a very significant reduction in malaria infection when the malaria drugs were used in combination with bed nets, compared with bed nets alone.
"What we found is, the burden of malaria was reduced by 70 percent in these children."
In a similar study conducted in Mali, combining the intermittent drug therapy with the bed nets was even more effective.
Both studies are published in the journal PloS Medicine, as was a separate article by a team of malaria experts discussing the findings. The experts, led by James Beeson of the Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia, support expanding intermittent preventive malaria treatment of children, but they caution that more research is needed to nail down the specifics.
The World Health Organization estimates that almost 800,000 people died from malaria in 2009, about a 20 percent decrease since 2000. Anti-malaria programs are having an effect, but periodic resurgences illustrate⁸ what the WHO calls the "fragility" of the effort to control the disease.

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 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 smallpox   

n.天花

参考例句：

• In 1742 he suffered a fatal attack of smallpox.1742年，他染上了致命的天花。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child?你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

4 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。

5 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

6 intermittent   

adj.间歇的，断断续续的

参考例句：

• Did you hear the intermittent sound outside?你听见外面时断时续的声音了吗？
• In the daytime intermittent rains freshened all the earth.白天里，时断时续地下着雨，使整个大地都生气勃勃了。

7 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。

8 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。