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【When Animals Make People Sick】
TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
Researchers estimate that more than two billion people a year get diseases spread by animals. More than two million of them die.
研究人员估计，每年有超过20亿人感染上动物传播的疾病，超过200万人因此死亡。
Delia Grace is a veterinary epidemiologist -- an expert in the spread of diseases involving animals. She is also a food safety expert. She works at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. She explains that diseases transmitted between animals and people are called zoonoses.
兽医流行病学家Delia Grace是一名研究动物传播疾病的专家，她还是食品安全专家，就职于肯尼亚内罗毕的国际家畜研究所。她解释了人畜共患病，这是一种在动物与人之间传播的疾病。
DELIA GRACE: "A majority of human diseases are actually zoonotic. More than sixty percent of human diseases are transmitted from other vertebrate animals. Some of these diseases are pretty common. Some of the food-borne diseases and also diseases such as tuberculosis, leptospirosis are not uncommon. Others are quite rare."
DELIA GRACE: “大多数人类疾病实际上就是人畜共患病，超过60%的人类疾病是通过其他脊椎动物传播的。其中一些疾病很常见，一些食物传染疾病及诸如肺结核和细螺旋体病不常见，还有一些很罕见。”
Delia Grace says there are many different infection pathways for a person. Probably the most common one is for people to get sick from food. Other transmission pathways include direct contact with animals. And some diseases can be transmitted through water or through the air.
Delia Grace说，对于一个人来说，可以有多种感染途径。可能最常见的就是病从口入，其他传播途径包括与动物直接接触，一些疾病还能通过水或空气传播。
DELIA GRACE: "Diseases like avian influenza or mad cow disease have actually killed very few people. But they are of interest because some of them have the potential to kill a lot of people -- diseases like the Spanish flu after the First World War or HIV/AIDS, both of which were originally zoonoses."
DELIA GRACE: “死于诸如禽流感和疯牛病之类疾病的人确实很少，但值得关注是因为它们有害死很多人的潜能，诸如一战后的西班牙流感和艾滋病之类的疾病最初都是人畜共患病。”
Delia Grace is the lead author of a new report called "Mapping of Poverty and Likely Zoonoses Hotspots." She points out that poverty and disease are closely linked, so preventing the transmission of animal diseases could help reduce poverty.
Delia Grace是最新一份名为“贫穷地图和可能的人畜共患病热点”的报告的主要执笔，她指出，贫困和疾病密切相关，所以预防动物疾病的传播可以减少贫困。
The report, for Britain's Department for International Development, lists places where the diseases are most common. The report lists places where a disease has existed for a long time, a so-called endemic zoonosis, as well as places with new threats.
英国国际发展部的这份报告列出了这些疾病最常见的分布地，列出了流行的人畜共患病持续最长的地点，以及有新疾病出现的地区。
DELIA GRACE: "So in terms of the hotspots of the zoonosis which are there all the time -- not the new zoonosis, but what we call the endemic zoonosis -- we identified three countries which bear the greatest burden of these diseases. And those are India, Ethiopia and Nigeria. But in terms of the new diseases -- the diseases which haven't been there, but are emerging -- the hotspots are very different. They appear to be western United States and western Europe."
DELIA GRACE: “因此，就一直有人畜共患病的热点地区来说，我不是指新的人畜共患病，而是所谓的流行性人畜共患病，我们识别出遭受这类疾病负担最重的国家。这些国家包括印度、埃塞俄比亚和尼日利亚。但就那些尚未出现但会出现的新疾病而言，热点地区很不一样了。这些地区应该是美国西部和西欧。”
Delia Grace says things could get worse in the coming years as meat production increases to feed a growing world population. High production farms often raise animals close together. Crowding can allow diseases to spread quickly. Another concern is the use of antibiotics in food animals, not only to prevent and treat diseases but to increase growth.
Delia Grace说，未来几年间，为了养活增长的人口而进行的大规模肉类生产，情况会因此恶化。高产的农场通常会集中饲养动物，拥挤的环境会使疾病快速蔓延。另一个担心是饲养动物所用的抗生素，用抗生素不仅是为了预防和治疗疾病，还是为了增产。
The report says an "incentive-based" system to encourage safer methods of raising animals could be more effective than increasing food inspections. For example, small farmers could receive training and other help that would lead to official certification that their products are safe.
报告称，“基于奖励”的系统可以鼓励用更安全的方法来饲养动物，这比增加食物检测更有效。比如，小农场可接受培训等帮助，这样可以保证产品安全，通过官方验证。
