第1740期:Bird Flu Spreads to More Countries

Avian flu has reached new areas of the world and has become a year-round problem, animal and disease experts warn. More than 20 experts and farmers on four continents spoke to the Reuters news agency about the problem. They suggested that record outbreaks will not stop soon on poultry farms. They also warned that farmers must view the disease as a serious risk all year, instead of doing prevention efforts during spring movement seasons for wild birds. The outbreaks of the virus have continued through the summer heat and winter cold in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Egg prices set records after the disease killed tens of millions of chickens last year. These record prices, at a time of worldwide economic problems, are especially damaging to people who use eggs as a main source of protein.

动物和疾病专家警告说，禽流感已经蔓延到世界的新地区，并已成为一个全年性的问题。来自四大洲的 20 多位专家和农民向路透社谈到了这个问题。他们表示，创纪录的疫情不会很快在家禽养殖场停止。他们还警告说，农民必须将这种疾病视为全年的严重风险，而不是在春季野生鸟类迁徙季节进行预防工作。在南北美洲、欧洲、亚洲和非洲，病毒的爆发一直持续到夏季炎热和冬季寒冷。去年该病导致数千万只鸡死亡后，鸡蛋价格创下历史新高。在全球经济出现问题之际，这些创纪录的价格对使用鸡蛋作为主要蛋白质来源的人们尤其有害。

Wild birds are mainly responsible for spreading the virus, experts say. Waterfowl like ducks can carry the disease without dying and pass it to poultry through contaminated waste, saliva and other means. Farmers' best efforts to protect their birds are falling short. In the United States, Rose Acre Farms, the country's second-largest egg producer, lost about 1.5 million chickens at a Guthrie County, Iowa, production farm last year. These losses occurred even though anyone who entered barns was required to shower first to remove any sign of the virus, Chief Executive Marcus Rust said.

专家说，野生鸟类是传播病毒的主要原因。鸭子等水禽可以在不死亡的情况下携带这种疾病，并通过受污染的粪便、唾液和其他途径将其传染给家禽。农民为保护鸟类所做的最大努力都没有达到预期效果。在美国，该国第二大鸡蛋生产商 Rose Acre Farms 去年在爱荷华州格思里县的生产农场损失了大约 150 万只鸡。首席执行官马库斯·拉斯特 (Marcus Rust) 说，即使进入谷仓的任何人都必须先淋浴以消除病毒迹象，但仍会发生这些损失。

A company farm in Weld County, Colorado, was infected twice within about six months, killing more than 3 million chickens, Rust said. He thinks wind blew the virus in from nearby fields where geese left their waste. The U.S., Britain, France and Japan are among the countries that have suffered record losses of poultry over the past year, leaving some farmers feeling helpless. "Avian flu is occurring even in a new poultry farm with modern equipment and no windows, so all we could do now is ask God to avoid an outbreak," said Shigeo Inaba, who raises chickens for meat in Ibaraki, near Tokyo.

Rust 说，科罗拉多州韦尔德县的一家公司农场在大约六个月内被感染了两次，导致超过 300 万只鸡死亡。他认为是风从附近鹅留下粪便的田地吹来了病毒。美国、英国、法国和日本等国家在过去一年中遭受了创纪录的家禽损失，这让一些农民感到无助。在东京附近的茨城县饲养肉鸡的 Shigeo Inaba 说：“即使是在一个拥有现代化设备且没有窗户的新家禽养殖场中，禽流感也在发生，所以我们现在所能做的就是祈求上帝避免爆发。”

The virus is usually deadly to poultry, and entire groups of birds are killed when even one bird tests positive. Vaccinations are not a simple solution: they may reduce but not eliminate the threat from the virus, making it harder to detect its presence among the birds. Still, Mexico and the European Union are among those vaccinating or considering shots. Wild birds have spread the disease farther and wider around the world than ever before, likely carrying record amounts of the virus, said Gregorio Torres. Torres is the head of the science department at the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health, an intergovernmental group for animal diseases. The virus changed from previous outbreaks to a form that is probably more easily spread, he told Reuters.

这种病毒通常对家禽是致命的，即使一只鸟检测呈阳性，也会杀死整群鸟。疫苗接种不是一个简单的解决方案：它们可能会减少但不会消除病毒的威胁，从而更难检测到它在鸟类中的存在。尽管如此，墨西哥和欧盟仍在接种疫苗或考虑接种疫苗。格雷戈里奥·托雷斯说，野生鸟类在世界范围内传播这种疾病的范围比以往任何时候都大，可能携带了创纪录数量的病毒。托雷斯是总部位于巴黎的世界动物卫生组织科学部的负责人，该组织是一个动物疾病政府间组织。他告诉路透社，这种病毒从以前的爆发变成了一种可能更容易传播的形式。

"The disease is here to stay at least in the short term," Torres said. While the virus can infect people, usually those who have contact with infected birds, the World Health Organization says the risk to humans remains low.

“这种疾病至少在短期内会持续存在，”托雷斯说。虽然这种病毒可以感染人，通常是那些与受感染的鸟类有过接触的人，但世界卫生组织表示，对人类的风险仍然很低。