H7N9始末:危言不该耸听 流感需冷静预防

A deadly strain of bird flu previously unknown in people has begun to mutate into a form more likely to cause a human pandemic, scientists say.

科学家声称，一种未知的，可致命的禽流感病毒已开始发生突变，很可能导致人群之间的流行传染。

Just days after authorities in China announced they had identified cases of H7N9, flu experts in laboratories across the world are picking through the DNA sequence data of samples isolated from patients to assess its severity.

就在中国宣称已证实H7N9病例几天之后，全世界的流感专家就开始搜集样本中的DNA序列数据，这些样本是从病人身上分离而出，试验的目的是评估该种病毒的严重性。

One of the world’s top flu experts, Ab Osterhaus, from the Erasmus Medical Centre in The Netherlands, says the sequences show some genetic mutations that should put authorities on alert and entail increased surveillance in animals and humans.

世界顶尖的流感专家之一，来自荷兰伊拉兹马斯医学中心的阿布·沃斯特沃斯声称，DNA序列显明，专家应该对某些基因突变提高警惕，而且必须加强对动物与人体的有关监控。该项病毒的感染范围已扩大至哺乳动物和人类，这也是令人烦恼不已的地方。我们必须对此保持紧密关注。

China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission confirmed that three people had been infected with the new H7N9 flu, with two deaths of men in Shanghai aged 87 and 27 who fell sick in late February.

中国国家健康与家庭规划委员会已证实，已有三个人感染新型H7N9流感，其中来自上海的两名患者已死亡，年龄分别是87和27岁，均是在二月底发病。

Chinese authorities have in the past two days confirmed another six cases, including another fatal one.

中国有关部门又在过去两天中证实另外六起病例，其中一名生命垂危。

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the cases of H7N9 are 'of concern' because they are the first in humans.

世界卫生组织（WHO）宣称，以上的H7N9病例具有极其重要的意义，因其是在人类中发现的首批病例。

'That makes it a unique event, which the World Health Organization is taking seriously,' the Geneva-based United Nations health agency said today.

位于几内瓦的联合国卫生代表处在今天发表声明，这是一个特殊的事件，世界卫生组织对此表示极为重视。

Other strains of bird flu, such as H5N1, have been circulating for many years and can be transmitted from bird to bird, and bird to human, but not from human to human.

其它的禽流感病毒株，比如H5N1，已经出现多年，可以在禽类之间传播，禽类和人类之间传播，但并不会在人群之间传播。

So far, this lack of human-to-human transmission also appears to be a feature of the H7N9 strain.

目前为止，H7N9病毒株还未表现出可以在人群之间传播的特征。

Flu viruses are classified based on two types of protein found on their surface, haemagglutinin and neuraminidase, which are abbreviated to H and N.

流感病毒的分类依据是病毒株表面发现的两种蛋白质，血凝素和神经氨酸苷酶，分别可以缩写为H和N。

Although it is very early days, scientists says initial analysis also suggests H7N9 does not appear to make birds particularly ill - in other words it is what is known as a low pathogenic avian influenza, of LPAI.

尽管现在言之过早，但经过初步的分析，科学家声称，H7N9不会导致禽类患上特别严重的疾病——换句话说，它是一种比较轻微的家禽流行性感冒，也就是低致病性禽流感（LPAI）。

Unfortunately, this doesn’t necessarily mean it will be mild in humans, says Wendy Barclay, a flu virology expert at Britain’s Imperial College London.

英国帝国理工学院的病毒学专家，温迪·巴克利说道，但是以上说法并不意味着对人类的影响也比较小。

Its mildness in birds could also mean H7N9 is a 'silent spreader' - harder to detect than highly pathogenic flu strains such as H5N1 that can wipe out entire flocks of wild birds or domestic poultry and are therefore far more visible.

H7N9病毒在禽类中的温和表现同时意味着其传播过程的隐蔽性，相较于高度致病性流感，比如横扫野外和家养禽类，传染过程明显可见的H5N1，H7N9被探测到的难度更大。

In 2003, China initially tried to cover up an epidemic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China and killed about a tenth of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.

2003年，中国起初试图掩盖SARS疫情，SARS在中国出现，并导致全球范围内800人死亡。