中国病毒学家正在抗击一场新的疫情

Chinese Virologists Are Fighting A New Outbreak

中国病毒学家正在抗击一场新的疫情

A new strain of coronavirus has been discovered in China. Health officials think it's the likely culprit in a pneumonia outbreak in the central city of Wuhan, where 59 people have been diagnosed with mysterious viral lung infections since early December.

在中国发现了一种新的冠状病毒。卫生官员认为，这可能是中部城市武汉爆发的肺炎疫情的罪魁祸首。自去年12月初以来，武汉已有59人被诊断出神秘的病毒性肺部感染。

Chinese researchers say they sequenced the new coronavirus's genome from one patient's samples, and matched it to fourteen other people in the outbreak.

中国研究人员说，他们从一名患者的样本中对新的冠状病毒基因组进行了排序，并将其与此次疫情中的另外14人进行了比对。

The cases appear to be linked to a large seafood market in the city, which also sold live animals for meat. Experts think those infected probably touched or ate animals carrying the virus. They then developed symptoms including fever, breathing issues and lesions on their lungs.

这些案件似乎与该市的一个大型海鲜市场有关，该市场也出售活的动物作。专家认为，那些感染病毒的人可能接触或食用了携带病毒的动物。随后他们出现了发烧、呼吸问题和肺部损伤等症状。

The coronavirus family includes six other strains known to infect humans. All of them share a signature look under a strong microscope: a circle with spikes coming off the surface, ending with small blobs.

冠状病毒家族包括另外六种已知会感染人类的病毒。在高倍显微镜下，它们都有一个共同的特征:一个圆的表面上有尖刺，末端有小斑点。

"Kind of looks like the peaks of a crown," says Carolyn Machamer, a virologist and cell biologist at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

约翰·霍普金斯大学医学院的病毒学家和细胞生物学家卡罗琳·麦克默尔说：“看起来有点像王冠上的山峰。”

Four of those strains cause common colds. So how concerned should you be about this new disease?

其中四种导致普通感冒。那么，你应该如何关注这种新疾病呢?

Virologists watching the outbreak are asking three main questions to assess the severity of this coronavirus, on the scale of sniffles to severe threat:

观察此次疫情爆发的病毒学家提出了三个主要问题，以评估这种冠状病毒的严重程度，以及从流鼻涕到严重威胁的程度:

1)    Is it contagious?

它会传染吗?

Chinese authorities say the virus does not transmit easily between people.

中国当局说，这种病毒不易在人与人之间传播。

Since health workers treating patients don't seem to have gotten sick, it's reasonable to believe that the virus doesn't spread efficiently, says Vineet Menachery, a virologist at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Still, it's too early to conclude that this new coronavirus doesn't spread between people at all.

德克萨斯大学加尔维斯顿分校的病毒学家维尼特•梅纳切里说，由于医护人员在治疗病人时似乎没有生病，因此有理由相信病毒没有有效传播。不过，现在下结论说这种新型冠状病毒不会在人群中传播还为时过早。

How easily a virus spreads among people depends on several factors, such as how well it replicates in a person, and where in the body the infection is located.

病毒在人群中传播的容易程度取决于几个因素，如病毒在人体内复制的难易程度，以及病毒在体内的位置。

2) Is it lethal?

它是致命的吗?

As of this week, Chinese health authorities have reported seven critical cases, but no deaths from the virus. Some patients have been treated and discharged.

截至本周，中国卫生部门已经报告了7例严重病例，但没有人死于甲型h1n1流感。一些患者已经得到治疗并出院。

The fact that people seem able to fight off the infection and recover is a good sign, says Machamer, at Johns Hopkins.

约翰霍普金斯大学的马查默说，人们似乎能够抵抗感染并康复，这是一个好迹象。

"It's a serious-enough infection, but not like SARS or MERS," she says.

她说:“这是一种相当严重的感染，但不像非典或中东呼吸综合症那样严重。”

Health authorities are monitoring the patients in Wuhan and their close contacts to help manage the outbreak.

卫生当局正在监测武汉的患者及其密切接触者，以帮助控制疫情。

3)    Is it contained?

它被控制住了吗?

Earlier this month, authorities closed the seafood and live animal market linked to the pneumonia cases for cleaning and investigations. It's a step from the post-SARS playbook on containing outbreaks.

本月早些时候，当局关闭了与肺炎病例有关的海鲜和活禽市场，进行清理和调查。这是后非典时期控制疫情的一个步骤。

Viruses that emerge from animals need some time to become an epidemic strain. The faster you find them, the faster you limit the spread.

从动物身上产生的病毒需要一段时间才能成为一种流行毒株。你越快找到它们，就能越快地限制扩散。