Telephone Hotline in Pakistan Predicts Dengue Outbreaks

　　巴基斯坦熱線電話預報登革熱疫情

　　A telephone helpline is aiding public health officials in Pakistan to predict dengue fever outbreaks.

　　在巴基斯坦，電話熱線用來幫助公共衛(wèi)生官員來預報登革熱。

　　Dengue is a disease carried by mosquitoes. It affects people who live in hot and humid climates of the world, according to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

　　登革熱是由蚊子攜帶的。根據(jù)在明尼蘇達州羅徹斯特報道，它主要影響居住在濕熱氣候地區(qū)的人們。

　　Dengue causes sudden high fever, headaches and severe joint and muscle pain. There is no cure or vaccine for dengue fever.

　　登革熱引起高熱，頭痛混合肌肉痛。沒有治療和預防登革熱高熱的方法。

　　An estimated 400,000 people are infected with dengue each year. Worldwide, an estimated 2.5 billion people are at risk of getting the disease.

　　每年預計有四十萬人感染登革熱。世界范圍，預計25億是高危人群。

　　Pakistan is making some progress in controlling dengue.

　　巴基斯坦在控制登革熱上取得了一些進展。

　　Researchers have created a computer process that uses helpline reports from the public.

　　研究人員已經(jīng)研究出了電腦程序用來使熱線報道者遠離公共場合。

　　The information is used to help forecast the number of cases. Public health officials then can take measures to limit the effects of dengue on a community. For example, public health workers can get rid of high populations of mosquitoes.

　　此信息是用來幫助預測登革熱人數(shù)。公共衛(wèi)生官員可以采取措施去限制登革熱在人群中的影響。例如，公共衛(wèi)生工作者可以遠離蚊群。

　　Lakshmi Subramanian is a teacher of mathematical sciences at New York University. He said the computer process is accurate.

　　拉克希米是一名紐約大學數(shù)理科學教師。他表示電腦程序是正確的方法。

　　He said, “The computer is actually giving you the exact range. And that is more powerful than, 'Oh, I think an outbreak is going to happen or an outbreak is not going to happen.'”

　　他表示：計算機實際上能夠給你正確的范圍。并且對于“哦，我認為疾病即將發(fā)生，或者疾病沒有發(fā)生”這句話來說，計算機更加有力。

　　He added that an outbreak can be traced to neighborhoods and blocks where they started.

　　他補充說疾病是可以在開始的時候被追蹤和封鎖的。

　　The helpline has been in operation for about five years.

　　熱線電話已經(jīng)持續(xù)將近5年了。

　　The Pakistani province of Punjab was hit by a severe outbreak of dengue in 2011. More than 21,000 people were infected and 350 people died.

　　在2011年旁遮普被登革熱襲擊了數(shù)次。超過21000人感染，350人死亡。

　　Hospitals in Punjab were unprepared and crowded with patients.

　　在旁遮普的醫(yī)院沒有做好準備并且充斥著大量病患。

　　Since then, researchers in the United States and Pakistan developed the helpline. Almost 300,000 people have called the service with questions about the symptoms of dengue. They also report areas where mosquitoes are living.

　　從那時開始，在美國和巴基斯坦的研究人員開發(fā)了熱線程序。超過30萬的已經(jīng)詢問過關于登革熱的問題。他們也報道蚊群所在地。

　　Experts say the system is not costly. They say that in 2013 the number of dengue cases in the city of Lahore fell to 1,600 using information from the helpline and disease prevention efforts.

　　專家表示這個系統(tǒng)話費不大。他們表示在2013年，拉合爾通過使用熱線信息使登革熱疾病數(shù)量降低到1600名。

　　I’m Anna Matteo.

　　安娜報道