寄生虫离我们并不远

Today, the neglected disease of poverty. Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute talked about parasitic infections, common among the poorest people in developing countries, that are now being diagnosed among the 36 to 40 million Americans who live in poverty.

今天的节目将给大家介绍长久以来被人们忽视的、困扰穷人的传染病。沙宾疫苗研究所所长彼得·霍特兹告诉记者，寄生虫病在发展中国家最贫困的人群中肆虐，目前美国已有360到400万人口得到确诊。

Peter Hotez: So there’s something about poverty that is making these people susceptible to these parasitic infections. And what we’ve identified in particular are six infections, and what we find are really high rates among African Americans and Hispanic Americans living in the poorest parts of our country.

彼得·霍特兹：由此可见，穷人由于某种原因更容易感染寄生虫病。我们发现有六种寄生虫病在穷人当中非常常见，其感染率在我国非裔及拉美裔人群中也出奇的高。

Hotez gave the example of a disease called toxocariasis, a parasitic worm infection spread through dog feces. He said the infection leads to asthma or developmental delays. And he estimates that it affects more than a million people in the U.S., the majority being African Americans. But he said, because so few doctors have learned about the disease, it frequently goes undiagnosed.

霍特兹举了个有关弓蛔虫病的例子，这种病通过狗的粪便传播。他告诉记者，弓蛔虫病会引发哮喘及发育迟缓，美国大约有超过百亿名患者，其中绝大多数为非裔美国人。然而他表示，由于知道这种病的医生太少，许多患者都没有得到确诊。

Peter Hotez: We’re not in a position at this point to know, when a child comes in with asthma, what the likelihood is that person has asthma because of toxocariasis or another source.

彼得·霍特兹：有关这种病的知识还不普及，当一名儿童哮喘病患者走进医院时，医生们通常不知道他的病是由于弓蛔虫感染还是其他因素引起的。

Peter Hotez is working on developing vaccines and new diagnostic kits, and raising awareness that these diseases exist and disproportionately hit America’s poorest.

彼得·霍特兹正着手开发新疫苗及诊断试剂盒，同时致力于提高公众意识，让人们了解这种疾病不仅存在，还严重威胁着美国最贫困人口的生存。

I'm Jorge Salazar.

我是主播豪尔赫·萨拉萨尔。