CNN News: 埃博拉病毒黑暗中的一線希望

In the midst of the second deadliest outbreak of the Ebola virus, there could be a light at the end of the tunnel. First, here’s what’s been going on. An Ebola outbreak was declared last summer in the Democratic Republic of Congo. That’s where the disease was first identified in 1976 and the outbreak that started last year was at least the 10th one since then in the DRC.

在第二致命的埃博拉病毒爆發(fā)之際，黑暗的盡頭可能會(huì)有一線光明。首先，去年夏天，剛果民主共和國(guó)宣布爆發(fā)埃博拉疫情。1976年，剛果民主共和國(guó)首次發(fā)現(xiàn)埃博拉病毒，去年爆發(fā)的疫情是自那以來(lái)剛果民主共和國(guó)爆發(fā)的第10次疫情。

One year later, more than 2,700 people in all have been infected and more than half of them have died. There’s no cure for Ebola. The virus’ symptoms usually include fever, body aches, stomach pain, vomiting and bleeding and without extensive protective gear anyone in close contact with someone who’s infected is at risk. So what’s this silver lining?

一年后，總共有2700多人被感染，其中一半以上已經(jīng)死亡。目前還沒(méi)有治愈埃博拉的方法。這種病毒的癥狀通常包括發(fā)燒、身體疼痛、胃痛、嘔吐和出血，如果沒(méi)有廣泛的防護(hù)措施，任何與感染者密切接觸的人都有患病風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。那么黑暗中的一線希望是什么呢?

There are two new medical treatments available to Ebola patients and some doctors say they’re highly effective. On average, Ebola kills half the people it infects but among 500 Ebola patients who received the new drug treatments the death rate was between 29 percent and 34 percent and the news gets better.

埃博拉患者有兩種新的治療方法，一些醫(yī)生稱它們非常有效。平均而言，埃博拉病毒導(dǎo)致一半感染者死亡，但在接受新藥物治療的500名埃博拉患者中，死亡率在29%至34%之間，情況有所好轉(zhuǎn)。

For patients who were treated early enough with these drugs, researchers say the death rate drops to between six and 11 percent. So scientists believe the drugs show a lot of promise in moving toward a cure. Over the past four decades, the Ebola virus has devastated communities and fueled fear across central and western Africa.

研究人員表示，對(duì)那些早期接受這些藥物治療的病人，死亡率下降到6%到11%之間。因此，科學(xué)家們相信，這些藥物在治愈埃博拉方面大有希望。在過(guò)去的四十年里，埃博拉病毒摧毀了非洲中部和西部社區(qū)，加劇了人們的恐懼。