美国新增14个疑似性传播兹卡病例
Health authorities in the United States said they were investigating 14 new reports of the Zika virus possibly being transmitted by sex, including to pregnant women. If confirmed, the unexpectedly high number would have major implications for controlling the virus, which is usually spread by mosquito bites.
美国卫生部门称，他们正在调查14个可能是通过性传播的兹卡新病例，其中包括一些孕妇。这些病例的数目之多出人意料，如果获得确认，可能就会对控制兹卡病毒的方式产生重大影响。兹卡病毒通常是由蚊子叮咬传播的。
Scientists had believed sexual transmission of Zika to be extremely rare. Only a few cases have ever been documented. But if all the women in the cases the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is examining test positive for the virus — as two women already have, and four others have done in preliminary lab tests — officials believe there is no way other than sex that they could have contracted it.
科学家们曾经认为通过性传播感染兹卡的情况极其罕见。有记录的这种病例寥寥无几。但是，如果美国疾病控制与预防中心（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention，简称CDC）正在检测的这些女性病例结果全都呈阳性——两名女性已证实呈阳性，完成了初步实验室检测的其他四人亦然——官员们相信，除了性传播之外，她们没有感染这种病毒的其他途径。
The specter of so many cases — all in the continental United States — brings fresh complexity to the medical mystery of Zika. The virus is suspected to cause birth defects and a rare condition of temporary paralysis.
这种病例的数目如此之多——而且全都发生在美国本土——令兹卡的医学之谜变得更加复杂。人们怀疑，这种病毒可以导致某些出生缺陷和一种罕见的暂时性瘫痪。
“We were surprised that there was this number,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, the deputy director at the C.D.C., said in an interview. “If a number of them pan out, that’s much more than I was expecting.”
“人数这么多，令我们惊讶，”CDC副主任安·舒沙博士(Anne Schuchat)在接受采访时说。“如果其中不少得到证实，那会远远超过我的预计。”
In all the cases the C.D.C. is examining, women in the continental United States had sex with men who had traveled to countries where the virus is circulating, and developed symptoms associated with the virus within about two weeks of their male partners’ symptoms.
CDC正在研究的所有这些病例中，身处美国本土的女性都与曾经去过兹卡疫区国家的男性发生过性关系，而且在男性伴侣出现兹卡症状大约两周之内，她们也出现了与该病毒相关的症状。
Officials at the C.D.C. reported the potential cases in an alert to health care providers on Tuesday.
CDC官员本周二向提供医疗服务的机构发出警报，知会了这些潜在病例。
The agency did not say exactly how many of the women were pregnant, but it reiterated its recommendation that people returning from Zika-infected areas use condoms or abstain from sex for the duration of their partner’s pregnancy. The alert said there was no evidence that women could transmit Zika virus to their sex partners, but added that more research was needed to be sure.
该机构并没有提到这些女性中究竟有多少怀了孕，但它重申了一项建议：从兹卡疫区返回的人在伴侣怀孕期间应该使用安全套，或者避免性接触。警报说，目前没有证据表明女性可以将兹卡病毒传染给性伴侣，但表示这还需要进行更多的研究才能确定。
This country has become a laboratory of sorts to test the sexual transmission of Zika, as scientists race to understand the disease. Transmission by mosquitoes is not yet happening in the continental United States because it is still winter, so health officials say they believe that any infection of an American resident who has not traveled to a place where Zika is circulating has probably been contracted through sex.
在科学家们争相研究这种疾病之时，美国成为了监测兹卡性传播的某种实验室。美国本土还没有出现过蚊子传播的病例，因为这里目前仍然是冬天，所以卫生部门官员表示，他们认为，那些没有去过兹卡疫区的美国居民很可能都是通过性传播感染上了这种病毒。
“In the U.S., where most people aren’t traveling to these areas, we may be able to uncover the potential risk,” Dr. Schuchat said.
“在美国，大多数人没有去过那些地区，所以我们也许能够发现它的潜在风险，”舒沙说。
In all, the United States has around 90 cases of Zika, according to the most recent count from the C.D.C., most of them contracted by people who had traveled to Latin America, currently the center of the virus. If confirmed, the new reports of sexual transmission would represent about 15 percent of that total.
CDC的最新统计显示，美国总共有大约90个兹卡病例，其中大多数感染者是曾经去过拉丁美洲的人，那里目前是这种病毒传播的中心。如果得到确认，这些通过性传播感染的新病例将占到所有兹卡感染病例的大约15%。
Questions about how frequently Zika can be transmitted by sex and how long the virus can stay in semen are particularly urgent here, given the large volume of travel between the United States and Central and South America. There were about 5.5 million visitors from South America to the United States in 2014, and nearly a million from Central America, according to figures from the Department of Commerce.
兹卡通过性行为传播的几率有多大，病毒可以在精液中存活多久？我们尤其需要马上找到这些问题的答案，因为在美国和中南美洲之间来往的人数非常之多。商务部的数据显示，2014年有大约550万人从南美洲来美国，有将近100万人从中美洲来美国。
And with the season for mosquitoes — still believed to be the primary mode of infection — nearing in the United States, Tuesday’s report is likely to further complicate preparations in states across the country.
随着美国即将进入蚊虫滋生的季节——蚊子传播依然被认为是兹卡病毒传播的主要途径——周二的报告很可能会让全美各州的预防工作变得更加复杂。
“This suggests that along with virus in the blood, Zika is gaining access to other fluids, including semen,” said Dr. Peter J. Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “Anyone who is pregnant and lives in an area where the Zika virus is circulating will need her male partner to use condoms. In the coming weeks, that may include the U.S. Gulf Coast.”
“这意味着，除了血液之外，兹卡还能通过包括精液在内的其他体液传播，”美国贝勒医学院国家热带疾病学院(National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine)院长彼得·J·霍特博士(Peter J. Hote)说。“所有怀孕和生活在兹卡病毒传播区域的人，都需要让她的男性伴侣使用安全套。接下来几周，这个范围可能会扩大到美国的墨西哥湾沿岸地区。”
Testing of semen may be difficult. Patients at real risk in the United States need to be first tested by standard blood testing before the testing of semen would even be considered, said Dr. Gary W. Procop, a professor of pathology at the Cleveland Clinic. Only the C.D.C. and state laboratories do such testing, and only for people determined to be at high risk, he said.
做精液检测可能会有些困难。克利夫兰诊所(Cleveland Clinic)的病理学教授、加里·W·普罗科普博士(Gary W. Procop)表示，美国面临真实风险的病人应该首先进行标准的血液检测，之后再考虑做精液检测。他还表示，只有CDC和州级实验室能做此类检测，而且只为被确定是高风险人群的人做。
