流行病的性質(zhì)就是無法預(yù)測。正如1918年流感流行一樣，“非典”也是如此。但人們想要對一個極為重要問題有個答案：國際社會能做一些什么來預(yù)防和控制未來的流行病呢？

It is the nature of epidemics to be unpredictable. So it is with SARS，as it was with the influenza epidemic of 1918. But people want an answer to a most important question: What can the global community do to prevent and control future epidemics? 

人們從以前的傳染病流行和現(xiàn)在“非典”流行中學(xué)到了很多東西。

Much has been learned from previous infectious disease epidemics and from the current SARS epidemic. 

在缺少有效疫苗和藥物的情況下，通過呼吸途徑傳染的傳染病——無論是使全球2000多萬人死亡的1918年流感流行，還是在兒童中迅速傳播的麻疹——必須認(rèn)真對待。

In the absence of effective vaccines or drugs, infectious diseases that are spread by the respiratory route—whether the influenza epidemic of 1918 that killed more than 20 million people worldwide or measles, which spreads rapidly among children—must be taken very seriously.

“非典”流行的一個重要含義是，在全球化背景下，一個國家的衛(wèi)生狀況越來越多地依靠全球的專家來發(fā)現(xiàn)潛在的健康威脅，并有科學(xué)能力在當(dāng)?shù)貞?yīng)對這些威脅。

One important implication of SARS epidemic is that in a globalized context, the health security of one country increasingly depends on expertise around the world in identifying potential health threats and in having the scientific capability to address those threats locally.

在20世紀(jì)80年代，鑒別HIV為艾滋病的原因用了2年時間。在2003年，世界衛(wèi)生組織創(chuàng)建了由10個國家13個實驗室組成非同尋常的網(wǎng)絡(luò)，在2周內(nèi)發(fā)現(xiàn)了與SARS相關(guān)的一種病毒。

In the 1980s, it took 2 years to identify HIV as the cause of AIDS. In 2003, WHO created an extraordinary network of 13 laboratories in 10 countries, which identified a virus associated with SARS in 2 weeks.

國際社會在應(yīng)對艾滋病和“非典”方式上有顯著的不同。這表明，衛(wèi)生機構(gòu)對一種新傳染病應(yīng)對有多快，在決定它是否成為大流行得到控制方面是至關(guān)重要的。

There are striking differences in the way the global community reacted to AIDS and SARS. It shows how quickly health agencies respond to a new infectious disease can be crucial in determining whether it turns into a pandemic or is controlled. 

責(zé)任編輯：admin