廣東今年出現登革熱高發趨勢

The southern Chinese province of Guangdong has seen a surge in dengue fever cases this year, raising fears that factors such as climate change and urbanization have accelerated the spread of the mosquito-borne Disease in the region.

中國南部廣東省今年的登革熱病例激增，人們擔心氣候變化和城市化等因素，加快了這種通過蚊子傳播的疾病在該地區的傳播。

Health officials said on Wednesday that Guangdong had seen 7,497 cases of dengue this year, the state news agency Xinhua reported. That was a sharp jump from the 6,089 cases reported on Monday.

國家通訊社新華社報道，衛生官員週三表示，廣東省今年的登革熱病例已達7497例。這比周一報道的6089例有大幅上升。

Most years, Guangdong, China’s most populous province with more than 100 million people, sees fewer than 1,000 cases. Between 1990 and 2008, the highest level was in 1995, with about 7,000 cases. “This will likely be the year with the most cases,” Chen Xiaoguang, an infectious disease expert with the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Southern Medical University in the provincial capital Guangzhou, said on Thursday in an email.

廣東省是中國人口最多的省，全省人口超過1億，大多數年裏，廣東每年登革熱的發病情況不到1000例。從1990年至2008年間，1995年的發病水平最高，約7000例。位於省會廣州的南方醫科大學的公共衛生與熱帶醫學學院傳染病專家陳曉光週四在一封電子郵件中說，“今年將很可能是發病最多的一年。”

Dengue causes fever, headaches, rashes and extreme joint pain, which gives it the informal name “breakbone fever.” With proper treatment the fatality rate is less than 1 percent, but severe cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever can be deadly, particularly for infants who make up most of the estimated 22,000 who die from dengue each year worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

登革熱引起發燒、頭痛、皮疹，以及關節劇痛，因此有“裂骨熱”的非正式名稱。得到適當治療的情況下，該病的死亡率低於1％，但嚴重的登革出血熱可致命，特別是嬰幼兒患者，據世界衛生組織估計，全世界每年有2.2萬人死於登革熱，其中嬰幼兒佔絕大多數。

Thus far, Guangdong has reported three deaths. Most of the dengue cases have been found in Guangzhou, which reported 6,361 cases and two deaths as of Wednesday. The city of Foshan was the second highest, with 789 cases and one death, Xinhua said.

迄今爲止，廣東已有3例死亡報告。大多數登革熱病例出現在廣州，截至週三已有6361例及兩例死亡報告。佛山市發現的病例數第二高，共有789例及一例死亡報告，新華社說。

In neighboring Hong Kong, the Center for Health Protection reported 66 confirmed cases of dengue fever as of Monday, all of which it said were imported from elsewhere, including one from the Chinese mainland.

在鄰近的香港，當地的衛生防護中心報告說，截至週一，已有66例確診的登革熱病例，衛生防護中心表示，所有病例都來自外地，包括來自中國大陸的一例。

The dengue virus is spread by Aedes mosquitoes and was only seen in sporadic outbreaks during most of the 20th century in China. But starting in 1978, there have been increasingly serious outbreaks in southern and coastal China. Between 1978 and 2008, there were 655,324 cases that killed 610 people in mainland China, Dr. Chen and several colleagues wrote in a 2010 paper.

登革熱病毒由一種伊蚊屬的蚊子傳播，在20世紀的大部分時間裏，該疾病在中國只有過零星的爆發。但從1978年起，在中國南方和沿海地帶開始出現日益嚴重的疫情。陳曉光和幾位同事在2010年發表的一篇論文中寫道，從1978年到2008年，中國大陸共有655324例登革熱病例，導致610人死亡。

Dr. Chen said that unusually warm temperatures and high rainfall along with the prevalence of dengue in neighboring areas of Southeast Asia contributed to the scale of the Guangdong outbreak this year.

陳曉光表示，導致廣東省今年疾病爆發規模的原因有幾個，包括異常高的氣溫，高降雨量，以及登革熱在附近東南亞地區的流行。

Yang Zhicong, deputy director of the Guangzhou municipal disease control and prevention center, also blamed public unwillingness to take steps to control mosquito populations, Xinhua reported. Officials have asked residents to reduce standing water that allows mosquitoes to breed. They have predicted that further eradication efforts, including spraying insecticide, should help reduce the outbreak, which should naturally decrease as cooler autumn temperatures make the environment less hospitable for mosquitoes.

新華社報道稱，廣州市疾病預防控制中心副主任楊智聰還把爆發的規模歸咎於公衆不願採取控制蚊子數量的措施。官員曾要求居民減少蚊子得以滋生的積水。他們預測，進一步根除蚊子的努力，包括噴灑殺蟲劑，應有助於減少疾病爆發，不過，隨着秋天涼爽氣溫的到來，疫情自然會減弱，因爲低溫環境不適合蚊子生存。

Other parts of Asia have also been confronted with dengue this summer. Earlier this month, Japan saw its first dengue cases since 1945, when at least 70 people fell ill in an outbreak connected to mosquitoes in Yoyogi Park in Tokyo.

亞洲其他地區今年夏天也面臨着登革熱的問題。本月初，日本出現了自1945年以來的第一個登革熱病例，1945年的爆發與東京代代木公園中的蚊子有關，至少有70人被感染。

Taiwan has tallied 2,589 dengue cases and five deaths from dengue hemorrhagic fever this year, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Controlsaid on Monday. The present rate of infection means the annual total probably will reach a level not seen since 2002, the centers’ deputy director general, Chou Jih-haw, told the state-owned Central News Agency.

臺灣的疾病管制署週一表示，臺灣今年的登革熱發病情況已達2589例，並有5人死於登革出血熱。疾病管制署副署長周志浩對政府所有的中央新聞社表示，目前的感染率意味着，本年度的發病數量可能會達到2002年以來的最高水平。

Long-term trends are likely to aid the spread of the virus. The W.H.O. says dengue cases have increased 30-fold over the past 50 years because of population growth, urbanization, increased global trade and growing amounts of plastics and other refuse that can provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

未來的長期趨勢可能有助於這種病毒的傳播。世界衛生組織表示，在過去50年中，登革熱病例增加了30倍還多，主要原因是人口增長、城市化、全球貿易增長，以及越來越多的塑料垃圾和其他廢棄物，爲蚊子的滋生提供了條件。

“Because of climate and environmental change and increasing international trade and travel, dengue may become more and more common in China,” said Dr. Chen. “So we have to strengthen our efforts against it.”

“由於氣候和環境變化，加上國際貿易和旅行的日益增長，登革熱在中國可能會變得越來越常見，”陳曉光說。“因此，我們必須加強抗擊這種疾病的努力。”