【Native Speaker每日综合训练—40系列】【40-04】科技--Ebola

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Part I: Speaker

American Ebola Victim to be Brought to US

An American infected with the Ebola virus in West Africa is returning to the United States. The unnamed aid worker will receive treatment at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

Many people infected with Ebola die. But doctors have been able to keep some people alive if they get immediate treatment in a hospital.

Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, has confirmed that an American with Ebola would be treated in a special area of the hospital. The patient will be separated from other patients in what is called an "isolation unit." The hospital has one of only four isolation units in U.S. medical centers.

The U.S. State Department is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the issue of Americans infected with Ebola. The officials are discussing ways to get the patients home to the U.S. They said Americans who are infected would be treated carefully. And they said the patients would be kept away from other people during travel to the U.S. and while in treatment.

Two other Americans became infected with Ebola while caring for infected people at a medical center in Liberia. One is a doctor from the state of Texas named Kent Brantly. Another is a religious worker from North Carolina named Nancy Writebol. It is not known if they will be brought to the United States for treatment.

The United States has issued travel warnings for Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ebola has affected those countries more severely than any others.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Source: VOA
http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/american-ebola-victim-to-be-brought-to-us-57983.html

[Rephrase 1, 2:18]

zxppx

Part II: Speed

Ebola in Uganda: Why Can't We Cure It? Where Does It Hide?
Contagious fever may "hide out" in bats and birds, expert suggests.
BY Ker Than | 31 July, 2014

[Time 2]

The latest Ebola occurrence is thought to have started in Uganda's western Kibaale District about three weeks ago, but was confirmed only last Friday.
The outbreak initially went undetected, because patients did not show typical Ebola symptoms, such as hemorrhaging, and because they had other illnesses, such as malaria, which complicated diagnosis, according to Ugandan officials.
Among the 14 dead are a medical clinic officer and her four-month-old baby, as well as 9 members from a single family. A dozen others suspected to be infected have been admitted to the local hospital, according to the Washington Post.
This is not the first time Ebola has struck Uganda: In 2007 an outbreak killed 42 people, and an epidemic in 2000 killed more than 200.
The virus is still so mysterious that no one knows how it originated, in which species it hides out between epidemics, or how to treat it. There's also a lack of understanding of how Ebola is transmitted, as Uganda's president demonstrated in a national address Monday.
"We discourage the shaking of hands, because that can cause contact through sweat which can cause problems ... and avoid promiscuity, because these sicknesses can also be transmitted through sex," Yoweri Museveni said in the address.
But the idea that Ebola can be spread by shaking hands—via sweat—is a myth, according to Joseph Fair, vice president of Metabiota, a San Francisco-based company that studies Ebola and other pathogens.
"Ebola is not currently known or thought to be transmitted by perspiration," Fair said. Ebola is transmitted by bodily fluids.
Overall, "being more aware of your surroundings and mindful of your contacts is always recommended if you live in the area of an outbreak."

[283 words]

[Time 3]

Incredibly Lethal Virus
First reported in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ebola is one of the most contagious known viruses. It's also incredibly lethal, killing up to 90 percent of its victims through widespread internal—and sometimes external—bleeding.
Initial symptoms can appear seemingly benign, and include vomiting, red eyes, stomach pains, and hiccups.
Eventually the virus causes capillaries—tiny, branching blood vessels throughout the body—to leak, Fair explained.
"You essentially lose the junctures between your cell walls, so your capillaries are leaking. Once that happens, you lose blood pressure and you essentially die of shock ... It's an extremely uncomfortable death."
What's more, the few people who survive Ebola often find themselves treated as outcasts by neighbors who fear the survivors still carry the disease, even though the infection is not chronic like HIV.
"While HIV-prevention-and-education campaigns have been very effective, one unforeseen effect is that people think every infection is a chronic one that will be with you for life," Fair said.

Ebola Origins a Mystery
Discovering Ebola's host or hosts—called natural reservoirs—could also help scientists predict outbreaks and develop safety measures.
Some scientists have suggested that bats are Ebola's natural reservoirs, and there is some evidence to support this theory. For example, when researchers have injected bats with the Ebola virus in experiments, the bats have survived.
But Ebola's protein structure also shares curious similarities with retroviruses carried by birds, leading some researchers to suspect the virus might have an avian origin.
One possible scenario is that Ebola evolved in birds in the distant past and was transmitted to bats, which now pass the virus on to humans and primates, said David Sanders, an Ebola researcher at Purdue University in Indiana.
It could even be that Ebola hides out in bats and birds.
"I am not opposing the idea that bats are a natural reservoir," Sanders said, "but I do not think birds have been or should be ruled out as a past host or even as a current host."
Ebola would not be the first virus to have a complicated past. The influenza virus, for example, originally infected only birds, but then jumped to humans, who might have then passed it on to pigs, Sanders said.
Now humans can catch the flu from both birds and pigs, as evidenced by the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

[395 words]

[Time 4]

Ebola Vaccine on Horizon?
Despite being first reported nearly 40 years ago, there is still no treatment or cure for Ebola.
One reason is that Ebola is not a single virus but five different strains, or species. And as with influenza and HIV, each species of Ebola carries different surface proteins that can be targeted by our immune systems.
"Therefore, if you happen to mount an immune response against species 1 of Ebola, it would most likely not be protective against species 2, 3, 4, and 5," Sanders explained.
Sanders thinks the disease's limited scope is another reason no Ebola vaccine currently exists.
"How many Americans have died of Ebola? ... The answer is zero," he said. "We tend to focus on those diseases that affect us the most."
But the likelihood is greater that an Ebola vaccine might soon be developed, as the U.S. military is concerned Ebola could be used for bioterrorism.
"A lot of researchers have come into the field since 9/11," Sanders said. "It's clearly on the [U.S.] Department of Defense's radar."
And it's not just the U.S. military that's interested in biodefense, Metabiota's Fair noted. Other federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Homeland Security have increased their biodefense budgets in the wake of 9/11. The European Union, Japan, and other countries have followed suit.
If military-funded research does lead to the successful development of an Ebola vaccine, it could ultimately benefit countries such as Uganda when the next natural outbreak strikes, the experts say.
"There's little doubt in my mind that advances in vaccines that are biodefense-oriented will have implications for defense against natural [Ebola] outbreaks," Sanders said.
"This is the way science works. You focus on one particular approach, but there are spin-offs for other things."

[303 words]
Source: news.nationalgeographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/120731-ebola-uganda-virus-health-world-science/


Liberia Closes Most Borders to Contain Ebola
BY VOA| 30 July, 2014

[Time 5]

Last weekend, the president of Liberia announced measures to try to contain the Ebola virus. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said that her country is closing most of its borders. The few entry points that will remain open are Monrovia's international airport, a provincial airport and three major over-land border crossings. She said all these entry points will have prevention and testing centers. She added that the Liberia Airport Authority will inspect all incoming and outgoing passengers. The government has also banned public gatherings and demonstrations.
In another development, health officials are attempting to identify who came into contact last week with a man who later died of the Ebola virus. Patrick Sawyer was 40 years old, and served as an advisor to Liberia's Finance Ministry. Mr. Sawyer took a flight from Liberia to Ghana. He later changed airplanes in Togo for a flight to Nigeria, where he died last Friday. Witnesses said he was sick on at least one of his flights. He reportedly was vomiting and had diarrhea. The expulsion of food from the stomach, and body wastes are signs of the disease.
Patrick Sawyer was going to Nigeria for a conference. He planned to go to the United States to visit with his wife and children.
On Monday, Nigerian officials announced that they had identified more than 50 people who came into contact with Mr. Sawyer. But some fear many more may have had contact with him than is currently known.
Jide Idris is Health Commissioner in Lagos State. He says both the health and aviation departments are searching for other possible Ebola cases.
"We call on all Nigerians to be calm, and not panic and do hereby ensure them that both the state and the federal government are up in arms to ensure that the virus does not escape and that no Nigerian is infected with this virus."
Ebola has killed about 700 people across West Africa this year. More than 1,200 others have been infected. Health workers say an outbreak in Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, would be an almost unimaginable disaster.
Experts from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in West Africa. They are working with government ministries and international organizations to follow the spread of Ebola cases.

[376 words]

[Time 6]

In the past, the Ebola virus currently active in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone killed 90 percent of those who got sick. The CDC says the death rate for the current outbreak is about 60 percent. Experts say this shows that early treatment is having an effect.
Stephan Monroe studies emerging diseases for the Centers for Disease Control. He spoke during a conference from the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
"We know how to stop the outbreak and that is to break the chains of transmission. And so what does that involve? It involves first identifying cases through active case findings, and then identifying all of their contacts -- who had contact with them during the time when they were symptomatic, and therefore are at risk of becoming infected themselves, and following those contacts daily for 21 days and if they do develop symptoms, to get them into one of these isolation facilities."
Stephan Monroe says fear and misinformation are preventing some people from seeking treatment. He says what the CDC and health organizations are hoping to do is to find trusted members of the affected communities to publicize how to contain the disease.

[194 words]
Source: VOA
http://www.51voa.com/VOA_Special_English/liberia-close-borders-contain-ebola-virus-57951.html

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Part III: Obstacle

Largest ever Ebola outbreak is not a global threat
Although the virus is exerting a heavy toll in West Africa, it does not spread easily.
BY Declan Butler | 30 July, 2014

[Paraphrase 7]

Deadly Ebola probably touched down in Lagos, Nigeria, the largest city in Africa, on 20 July. A man who was thought to be infected with the virus had arrived there on a flight from Liberia, where, along with Guinea and Sierra Leone, the largest recorded Ebola outbreak is currently raging. The Lagos case is the first to be internationally exported by air travel and today the UK foreign secretary announced that he would chair a government meeting on Ebola. As long as the virus continues to infect people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, there is a small risk of more long-distance exports of the disease. But, as Nature’s Declan Butler explains, Ebola does not pose a global threat.

Is it worrying that the virus reached the largest city of the most populous African country?
The World Health Organization still considers the Lagos case a “probable” infection because it has not yet confirmed that the 40-year-old Liberian man had Ebola. He was quarantined upon arrival at the airport and taken to hospital, where he died on 25 July. Assuming he had Ebola, if proper control measures were taken at the airport and at the hospital, the risk that health-care workers or others will become infected as a result of contact with him is low. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control classifies people sharing public transport with someone infected as having a “very low” risk of catching the virus. Healthcare workers and doctors, several of whom have now been infected and died as a result of caring for people in the current outbreak, are at much higher risk and the WHO advises that they take strict precautions, which greatly lowers the risk.

What about the risk of air travellers exporting the virus to other cities?
The ECDC also says the probability of an infected person getting on a flight in the first place is low, given the small overall number of Ebola cases. Moreover, functional health systems should be able to prevent onward spread from any exported cases. Overall, the World Health Organisation estimates that there is a high risk of spread to countries bordering those with existing outbreaks, a moderate risk to countries further afield in the sub-region, but that there is little chance of spread overseas. There is no reason to assume that an exported case — be it to Lagos, a city of 17 million people, or any other place — will spark new outbreaks, because Ebola is not highly contagious.

Wait, Ebola is hard to catch?
Though the strain of Ebola in the current outbreak appears to kill 56% of the people it infects, to become infected in the first place, a person's mucous membranes, or an area of broken skin, must come into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person, such as blood, urine, saliva, semen or stools, or materials contaminated with these fluids such as soiled clothing or bed linen. By contrast, respiratory pathogens such as those that cause the common cold or flu are coughed and sneezed into the air and can be contracted just by breathing or touching contaminated surfaces, such as door knobs. A pandemic flu virus can spread around the world in days or weeks and may be unstoppable whereas Ebola only causes sporadic localised outbreaks that can usually be stamped out.

So why is the outbreak continuing in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia?
In principle, it should be straightforward to bring an Ebola outbreak under control via public health measures alone, namely, identifying all people who have been infected and isolating them, monitoring all those that they have been in contact with for 21 days (the maximum incubation period), as well as promoting basic infection control measures. What's more, since people infected with Ebola do not infect others until they have symptoms, it is easier to trace their contacts than it is for some other diseases. Ebola is out of control in these countries because the sheer size of the outbreak is stretching response teams, and also because of local sociocultural factors.

What kind of sociocultural factors?
Local health authorities and international organisations such as WHO and Médecins Sans Frontières (also known as Doctors Without Borders) are struggling to control the spread in these areas because of a lack of trust and cooperation among the affected populations. Doctors and health workers have sometimes been blocked from accessing affected places because of opposition from villagers who fear the medics will bring the disease. According to the WHO, not all people who are infected are getting or seeking care, and so are passing the virus on to family and other close contacts. Another major driver of new infections is that families are often continuing to perform traditional burial rites that involve mourners having direct contact with the bodies of the dead – and unfortunately all too often Ebola.

Is the size of the outbreak unusual?
It is larger than any other outbreak in recorded history. The WHO reports that as of 23 July, there were 814 lab-confirmed infections, including 456 deaths. If ‘probable’ and ‘suspected’ cases are included, these numbers rise to 1,201 infections, including 672 deaths — but some of these may have been caused by other diseases. Only 7 other of the few dozen past outbreaks have involved more than 100 cases, and before now, the largest outbreak was in Uganda between 2000 and 2001, in which 425 people were infected and 224 died.

Since Ebola first appeared in 1976, only 19 outbreaks have had more than 10 victims, and around 2,000 people in total have died from the disease. By comparison, malaria kills some 3,200 people a day, and diarrhoeal diseases some 4,000. Snakes and other venomous animals cause some 55,000 deaths a year — 27 times more than the entire number of people killed by Ebola in 38 years.

Are there any drugs or vaccines for Ebola?
There are no licensed drugs or vaccines for Ebola, although candidates are in development. New treatments would help reduce the high mortality rate of the disease – which has ranged in past outbreaks from 25% to 89%, with an average of around 62%. Jeremy Farrar, head of the UK Wellcome Trust in London, has argued for the use of experimental, unapproved drugs in the current outbreak. But other scientists have said that with distrust of health workers already hampering efforts to bring the outbreak under control, such measures could be counterproductive by creating suspicion and so further undermining trust.

What needs to be done to bring the outbreak under control?
Outreach, in particular involving local community leaders, will be vital to persuade people to trust health workers and to follow public-health advice. Authorities need to win over public trust, persuade people to bury their dead safely, and continue to step up local and regional efforts to trace and isolate people who are infected and their contacts.

[1143 words]
Source: nature
http://www.nature.com/news/largest-ever-ebola-outbreak-is-not-a-global-threat-1.15640

菜农人民

speaker
Although the Ebola is fatal, several people could be treated in some areas, if they get treatment immediately.Now there are 2 Americans became infected. It is not know if they will be rought to the US for treatment.

Time2 3:03
Time3 5:14
Time4 2:55
Time5 3:11
Time6 2:36

疏离无罪

占~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~·

Speaker: 3 American were infected with the Ebola in the west Aferica.They will be transported back to the US isloelately and get immediate treatment to keep them alive.And the US government has issues travel warnings to several west africa countires.

01:22
The latest ourbreak of Ebola is in Uganda's western Kibaale District.But people still do little about this virus.How it spreads and where it hides are still mystery.We should avoid shaking hands and sex to prevent.

02:05
Ebola has high lethal rate through its victims.But it is not chronic.The origin of Ebola is still a mystery.Birds and bats are two main possibe reservoirs.

01:08
Thought this virus first appeared 40 years ago,there is still no vaccine for it.Because Ebola is not a single virus but five different strains, or species.And the scope of this virus is limited.However,vaccine may be developed soon,because of the worry of bioterrorism by Ebola.

01:38
Liberia closes most its borders to contain Ebola.One Ebola victim is died in this week in Nigeria.And the government is trying to search more possible cases.

00:38
Early and immediate treatment can effectively reduce the death rate.The effective wayt to stop the outbreal is to break the chains of transmission.

05:37
Though the largest outbreak of Ebola in the west africa, Ebola does not pose a global threat.
1 the death in Lagos is a probable Ebola victims and necessary measures are used when the man was sent to the hospital.
2 functional health systems can prevent people with Ebola from onboard.And with the small overall number of Ebola and not highly contagious,the risk that Ebola can spread around the world will be low.
3 Ebola only causes sporadic localised outbreaks that can usually be stamped out.
4 public health measures can be useful to control the outbreak of Ebola.The outbreak in West Africa countires cannot be controlled is due to the big sudden size and local sociocultural factors.
5 People there do not trust WHO and DWB.And not all people who are infected are getting or seeking care and they continue to perform the traditional burial rites.
6 Compared to other diseases,the outbreak of Ebola is not in big size.
7 There are no licensed drugs or vaccines for Ebola.But new treatments would help reduce the high mortality rate of the disease.
8 So we need to make sure this disease is under control.

醒醒Shine

[speaker]
some ebola patient could be cured

[time2]1:40
ebola ocured in Uganda
no idea of how and why

[time3]2:10
lethal
origin from bats and birds

[time4]1:31
vaccine: hope from US military-funded research

[time5]2:06
Lebria take actions to contain ebola
close most borders
scrutinize people contected with paitients

[time6]1:05
get control effect
how:identify case--contacts--follow contacts and isolate


[obstacle]6:40
Ebola does not pose a global threat.
1 reach largest city? no--proper control measures
2 exporting risk? low-small no.
3 hard to catch? no-- easy than flu
4 why continue? sheer size, sociocultural factors
5 what sociocultural factors?-- lack trust, burial rites direct contact
6 size unusual? bigger than before,but smaller than others
7 vaccines?--still trying
8 what to do? --trust health workers, bury dead safely

yding49149

Speakers
Two doctors who are infected with Eloba came back to USA and are getting treatment in the hospital of Emory University. They were isolated with other patients. Two other Americans are confirmed to be infected and it's not sure if they will be brought for treatment. USA has already released the travel warning for the countries which EBola is exposed
Time2-1'55
Time3-2'15
Time4-2'30
Time5-1'50
Time6-50'
Obstacle-6'50
Not a global treat
1.won't spread by simply sharing the transportation
2.mainly spread within the countries or around the countries, not overseas
3.hard tocatch
4.local sociocultural
5.local people refuses to get the treatment
6.the outbreak death number is far lower than others
7.no vaccines for now
possible ways to control the outbreak

ZOEYZHANG114

1)        Ebola causes people’s attention for its infection
2)        Be mindful of physical contact about the ebola outbreak area to avoid infection
3)        Ebola is lethal disease. Some birds and bats can transmit the disease.
4)        The medical research can help control the infection in the outbreak area
5)        There are frequent questions about Ebola.

sunshinesleep

Speakers
Time2-1'48 Alternative about shaking hands. A company based on USA don't thught that it could be transmitted by perspiration.
Time3-2'21
Time4-1'40
Time5-2'25
Time6-1'16
Obstacle- in waiting list for sme new words.

lemontrees

02.26
U country have beake out the epidemic--E.It's a unkown epidemic .We do not kown how
it transimit or which anmimals  bring it to  the people .
03.09
This part discussed about the natural reservior of E.Bat and bird is the two
have the ability to become the reservior.

02.03
US will develop the E vccine as soon as possible .Many other apartment is corcerning
about it's nagtive effects.
03.07
Someone died in N after the flying on the N's plant.N's people are in panic that
the P will bring the epidemic to the N's largest city .But many gorvernment
apartment is try the best to avoid thie case.
01.20
Docter said he found the good way to control the epidemic.The way is to cut down
the transmit chain.But the people may refuse to report their truth due to the fear
and misimformation.

05.03
1No vccine of E now.
2 The soicial cutural contributes to  E break out in L E G palces.
3E do not transmit very easiy
4 The mority of E is about 60% ，which showed that the cure is effective.