VOA慢速英语:Experts: Zika Could Infect 93 Million in Americas(翻译)

Health experts have new warning about Zika virus.They say the virus will keep spreading before the Zika epidemic finally ends.
目前，健康专家们就寨卡病毒发出警告。他们表示，寨卡病毒消失之前还将会继续扩散。

The experts say a new model shows a very large number of people could become infected before then.The model is a project of researchers from England, Sweden and the United States.
专家们表示，一项新的模型显示在此之前很多人都已经感染了寨卡病毒。该模型是英格兰、瑞典和美国研究人员的一个项目。

They estimate the Zika virus could infect over 93 million people in South America, North America and the Caribbean.The model projects 1.6 million young women could be infected.
他们估计北美洲、南美洲和加勒比地区已经有9300万人感染了寨卡病毒。该模型预计会有160万年轻女子会感染寨卡病毒。

Experts say a woman who is infected during the early months of her pregnancy is at risk of giving birth to a baby with microcephaly.A baby born with microcephaly has a small head and brain.
专家表示怀孕初期的孕妇感染寨卡病毒后，生出的婴儿可能伴有头小畸形，即头部和大脑较小。

The condition causes mental and physical disability, seizures and sometimes death. But experts say not every pregnant woman infected with Zika will give birth to a child with severe birth defects.
这种情况可能会造成心理或者生理方面的疾患，有时也会造成死亡。但专家们表示，并非所有感染寨卡病毒的孕妇生出的孩子都有严重的先天性缺陷。

The Associated Press says the Zika virus is spreading quickly in South America and the Caribbean.Infected mosquitoes can pass the infection to humans.
美联社表示寨卡病毒在南美洲和加勒比地区扩散很快。感染的蚊子可以将其传染给人类。

Over 1,400 cases of the Zika virus have been reported in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control.
美国疾病控制中心表示，美国已经报道了1400多例寨卡病毒感染案例。

The Zika study was published in the journal Nature Microbiology.
《自然-微生物学》杂志上发表了对寨卡病毒的研究。

In developing their study, researchers used information from past epidemics of two other viruses: dengue and Chikungunya.
研究过程中，研究人员们采用了之前另外两种流行病毒的信息，即登革热和基孔肯亚病。

Dengue is in the same virus family as Zika.Chikungunya is also spread by mosquitoes.The viruses can cause headaches, muscle pain and higher than normal body temperature.But 80 percent of people who contract Zika have no symptoms.
登革热和寨卡病毒属于同一病毒谱系。基孔肯亚病也由蚊虫传播。这些病毒可引起头疼、肌肉痛和发热等症状。但80%感染寨卡病毒的人都没有任何症状。

Researchers also examined data on blood tests from people who have been infected with Zika.That gave them information to predict the rate of transmission at the local level.
此外，研究人员还研究了寨卡病毒感染人群进行血检得出的数据。这为研究人员预测寨卡病毒在当地的传播速率提供了信息。

The model took into consideration how an event called herd immunity can change the number of infections.Herd immunity happens when a disease or virus can no longer spread because so many people are infected.When that happens, others are protected against the disease.
该模型考虑了能够改变感染人数的群体免疫事件。太多人感染某种病毒或者疾病之后，疾病和病毒就不再扩散，此时便出现群体免疫。出现群体免疫之后，他人便不再受该疾病的影响。

So really there’s going to be a large proportion of the population that remains uninfected after the [Zika] epidemic, said Alex Perkins.
Alex Perkins说道：“因此，即使寨卡病毒肆虐，仍有很大比例的人群不会感染该病毒。”

Perkins is one of the researchers who took part in the study.He added the epidemic will die off before it can infect everyone.
Perkins是参加此次研究的一名研究成员。他补充道，病毒感染所有人之前就会相继死亡。

There is currently no vaccine to protect people against Zika virus.The World Health Organization declared the virus a public health emergency earlier this year.
目前，还没有疫苗来保护人们不受寨卡病毒的危害。今年年初，世界卫生组织宣布寨卡病毒是突发公共卫生事件。

I’m Marsha James.
Marsha James为您报道。