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【When Animals Make People Sick】
TEXT:This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
這里是美國之音慢速英語農業報道。
Researchers estimate that more than two billion people a year get diseases spread by animals. More than two million of them die.
研究人員估計，每年有超過20億人感染上動物傳播的疾病，超過200萬人因此死亡。
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.
獸醫流行病學家Delia Grace是一名研究動物傳播疾病的專家，她還是食品安全專家，就職于肯尼亞內羅畢的國際家畜研究所。她解釋了人畜共患病，這是一種在動物與人之間傳播的疾病。
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: “大多數人類疾病實際上就是人畜共患病，超過60%的人類疾病是通過其他脊椎動物傳播的。其中一些疾病很常見，一些食物傳染疾病及諸如肺結核和細螺旋體病不常見，還有一些很罕見。”
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說，對于一個人來說，可以有多種感染途徑。可能最常見的就是病從口入，其他傳播途徑包括與動物直接接觸，一些疾病還能通過水或空氣傳播。
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: “死于諸如禽流感和瘋牛病之類疾病的人確實很少，但值得關注是因為它們有害死很多人的潛能，諸如一戰后的西班牙流感和艾滋病之類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是最新一份名為“貧窮地圖和可能的人畜共患病熱點”的報告的主要執筆，她指出，貧困和疾病密切相關，所以預防動物疾病的傳播可以減少貧困。
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.
英國國際發展部的這份報告列出了這些疾病最常見的分布地，列出了流行的人畜共患病持續最長的地點，以及有新疾病出現的地區。
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熱點地區來說，我不是指新的人畜共患病，而是所謂的流行性人畜共患病，我們識別出遭受這類疾病負擔最重的國家。這些國家包括印度、埃塞俄比亞和尼日利亞。但就那些尚未出現但會出現的新疾病而言，熱點地區很不一樣了。這些地區應該是美國西部和西歐。”
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說，未來幾年間，為了養活增長的人口而進行的大規模肉類生產，情況會因此惡化。高產的農場通常會集中飼養動物，擁擠的環境會使疾病快速蔓延。另一個擔心是飼養動物所用的抗生素，用抗生素不僅是為了預防和治療疾病，還是為了增產。
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.
報告稱，“基于獎勵”的系統可以鼓勵用更安全的方法來飼養動物，這比增加食物檢測更有效。比如，小農場可接受培訓等幫助，這樣可以保證產品安全，通過官方驗證。
