VOA常速英语:Measles Can be Deadly, But is Preventable

Many people think measles is just another childhood disease, a rash, a fever, and it’s gone.
许多人认为，麻疹不过是另一种儿科疾病。生一片红疹，发一次烧，病就会好了。

But top doctors say otherwise.
但一些顶级医生却表示情况并非如此。

The measles is not a trivial disease. If you have a measles outbreak, a proportion of people are gonna have serious complications.
“麻疹不是什么小病。如果麻疹疫情爆发，那么相当一部分人都会患上严重的并发症。”

Measles can cause permanent brain damage, it can leave a child blind or deaf, measles also kills.
麻疹可能会导致永久性脑损伤。也可能会让孩子失明或失聪。甚至还有可能会让他们失去性命。

In the pre-vaccine era before we had the measles outbreaks,we had about 500 kids die every year of measles in the U.S. and 50,000 hospitalizations."
“在疫苗前时代，我们还没有经历过麻疹爆发，当时美国每年都会有500名儿童死于麻疹，还有50000名因麻疹住院治疗。”

Most people get better within two weeks, but the effects can linger.
大部分人不出两周就能好转，但麻疹带给他们的影响却不会立即消失。

“If a child acquires measles, even in a country like the United States, he can have complication of measles that can be deadly,like pneumonia, or he can have like, a reduction in immune functions, he can also have malnutrition for quite some time after,so the child becomes weaker and more susceptible to other infections.”
“如果一个孩子出了麻疹，那么即使是在美国这样的国家，也有可能出现致命的并发症，例如肺炎，或者是免疫功能降低，还可能会在很长一段时间之后出现营养不良的情况，这样一来，孩子的身体就会越来越虚弱，也更容易受到感染。”

All it takes is a sneeze or a cough to spread the virus in tiny droplets through the air.
只需要打一个喷嚏或者咳嗽一下，病毒就可以通过空气以小液滴的形式传播开来。

One person can infect up to 18 others, each one of those people infects another dozen or so, and it spreads from there.
一个人就可以传染多达18个人。而这些人里的每一个又都可以传染另外十几个人，疾病就此蔓延开来。

Ninety percent of those exposed will get the virus, unless they have been vaccinated or have already had measles.
这样一来，百分之90接触过麻疹病患的人都会感染麻疹病毒，除非他们以前接种过疫苗或者已经得过麻疹。

The measles virus can linger on doorknobs, tables, any surface for up to two hours, touch it and you’re exposed.
麻疹病毒可以在门把手、桌子和任何表面上停留长达两个小时。一旦有人接触了这些地方，就会被暴露在病毒之下。

“It’s incredibly contagious, and the kids who get measles are really, really sick.I mean, it’s a pretty big deal to get measles.”
“麻疹的传染性极强。一旦感染上，孩子就会变得非常非常虚弱。我是说，得麻疹真的不是一件小事。”

The first signs of measles are a runny nose, cough and a fever followed by a red rash.Measles is not just a childhood disease; adults can get it, too.
患麻疹的第一个迹象是流鼻涕、咳嗽以及发烧，紧接着就是起红疹。麻疹不仅是一种儿童疾病，成年人也可能会感染。

The American Academy of Pediatrics has asked doctors to work with parents who are reluctant to get their children vaccinated.
美国儿科学会要求医生与不愿给孩子接种疫苗的家长共同合作。

Dr. Hope Scott at Reston Town Center Pediatrics in Virginia says her practice will allow parents to set up a delayed vaccine schedule, to a point.
弗吉尼亚州雷斯顿市中心儿科医院的希普·斯科特博士表示，她的医疗项目可以让家长们在一定程度上制定一个延期的疫苗接种计划。

“We’ll work with them probably till about age 2 or so.And if it’s not vaccinated by then and don’t have a plan to do it and aren’t acting on the plan,we will at that point ask them to leave the practice.”
“一直到孩子两岁左右，我们都会跟他们的家长合作。如果到时候他们还是没有接种疫苗，也没有打算要接种，同时也没有按照计划行事，那么我们会让他们退出这个项目。”

The single best way to prevent measles is to get two doses of the measles vaccine.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends children get the first dose after their first birthday and the second when they are between 4 and 6 years old.The two doses together provide 97 percent protection against measles.
预防麻疹的最佳方法就是接种两剂麻疹疫苗。美国疾病控制与预防中心建议，儿童在一周岁后就应该接种第一针，4到6岁之间接种第二针。两剂都接种完之后，就可以提供百分之97的保护作用。

Carol Pearson, VOA news, Washington.
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