埃博拉肆虐蒙羅維亞 強制隔離加劇社會動盪

MONROVIA, Liberia — Some people are swimming in and out of the Ebola quarantine zone in this seaside capital. One man slips out every day to reach his job at a Western embassy. Another has turned his living room into a tollbooth, charging others to escape through his apartment at the edge of the cordoned area. Countless others have used a different method: bribing their way out with fees that soldiers determine according to a person’s appearance, circumstances and even gender.

利比里亞蒙羅維亞——在這座海濱都城，有些人正在游泳出入埃博拉病毒隔離區。一名男子每天都溜出隔離區，前往他工作的一個西方使館。還有一名男子，他的公寓位於警戒線的邊緣，一些人想穿過這裏，逃離隔離區，他就在自己的起居室裏設點收費。此外還有數不清的人，採用了另外一個方法：賄賂士兵，讓他們網開一面；士兵則根據一個人的外表、經濟情況，甚至性別來決定費用高低。

Christian Verre, a 26-year-old clothing salesman, sneaked out through an abandoned building with his girlfriend, Alice Washington, 21, and eight friends. “Go back! Go back!” soldiers and police officers yelled, he recalled, but the conversation quickly took on a different turn: “What do you got?”

克里斯蒂安·維利(Christian Verre)是一名26歲的服裝銷售員，他曾和21歲的女友愛麗絲·華盛頓(Alice Washington)以及八個朋友一起，經由一座廢棄的建築物偷偷溜出。“回去！回去！”士兵和警察大喊，他回憶說，但他們的話鋒很快就變了：“你有多少東西？”

Those carrying goods handed over more than $8, Mr. Verre said. Traveling light, he was charged $4.25 for his girlfriend and about $6 for himself, “because I’m a man.” The couple now share a shack a few blocks outside West Point, the vast, sprawling slum that was placed under an Ebola quarantine last week.

那些攜帶物品的人，繳納了8美元（約合人民幣50元）多一點，維利說。他和女友是輕裝上路的，女友被收了4.25美元，自己則被收了6美元，“因爲我是男人。”這對情侶現在住在一個窩棚裏，和西點(West Point)相距幾條街；西點是一片廣闊、連綿的貧民窟，上週被劃爲埃博拉隔離區。

“I didn’t want to stay in West Point for 21 days,” he said, referring to Ebola’s maximum incubation period. “I wouldn’t die of Ebola but of hunger.”

“我可不想在西點待上21天，”他說，21天是埃博拉病毒的最長潛伏期。“我不會因爲埃博拉死掉，但我會餓死的。”

The five-month outbreak here in West Africa, already worse than all other Ebola epidemics combined, is for the first time spreading uncontrollably in a major city — one in which a third of Liberia’s 4.5 million people is estimated to rub shoulders, often uneasily. Though Ebola reached Monrovia three months after its appearance in the rural north, the city has become, in a few short weeks, a major focal point of the epidemic.

歷史上所有爆發的埃博拉疫情，加在一起也不如西非這五個月的程度嚴重，這是它首次在一個主要城市裏失控蔓延——利比里亞總人口爲450萬，蒙羅維亞佔了其中三分之一，他們心情不快地在這裏與彼此近距離接觸着。雖然埃博拉在北方農村出現三個月之後才擴散到了蒙羅維亞，但在短短几周內，這座城市就成爲了本次疫情一大重災區。

The outbreak has overwhelmed the government of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who has won the Nobel Peace Prize and the admiration of leaders around the world. But her management of Liberia has long drawn criticism at home, and now her handling of the Ebola epidemic has presented her with a political crisis that is galvanizing her opposition.

疫情的爆發讓利比里亞現政府手足無措；總統埃倫·約翰遜·瑟利夫(Ellen Johnson Sirleaf)曾獲得諾貝爾和平獎，受到各國領導人的欽佩，但是她管理利比里亞的方式早已在國內引發批評，現在她應對埃博拉疫情的做法，更是引起了一場政治危機，反對她的人正在聞風而動。

“We suffering! No food, Ma, no eat. We beg you, Ma!” one man yelled at Ms. Johnson Sirleaf as she visited West Point this week, surrounded by concentric circles of heavily armed guards, some linking arms and wearing surgical gloves.

“我們正在遭受煎熬！沒有食物，媽媽，沒有吃的。我們求求你了，媽媽！”本週約翰遜·瑟利夫探訪西點時，一名男子朝着她大喊。全副武裝的警衛一圈一圈地圍在她的周圍，一些警衛挽着手臂，戴着外科手套。

“We want to go out!” yet another pleaded. “We want to be free, Mama, please.”

“我們要出去！”其他人懇求道。“我們要自由，媽媽，求你了。”

International Ebola experts and her own health officials advised against imposing the quarantine in West Point, worried that it would antagonize a population whose cooperation the government desperately needs to stop the epidemic. But Ms. Johnson Sirleaf sided with the army, which was the strongest proponent of the quarantine and took the lead in enforcing it, especially in the first two days.

研究埃博拉的外國專家，以及她自己的衛生官員，都建議不要隔離西點，他們擔心此舉會引起人們的對抗，而政府正迫切需要這些人的合作來控制疫情。但約翰遜·瑟利夫站在了軍隊一邊，軍隊不僅是隔離措施最強烈的支持方，而且還牽頭實施了隔離，特別是在最初兩天。

“Putting the police and the army in charge of the quarantine was the worst thing you could do,” said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a Congolese doctor who helped identify the Ebola virus in the 1970s, battled many outbreaks in Central Africa and has been visiting Monrovia to advise the government. “You must make the people inside the quarantine zone feel that they are being helped, not oppressed.”

“讓警察和軍隊來負責隔離，沒什麼事比這更糟了，”讓-雅克·穆延貝(Jean-Jacques Muyembe)博士說；他是一名剛果醫生，20世紀70年代幫助查明瞭埃博拉病毒，曾在中非參加過很多次抗擊埃博拉疫情的鬥爭，目前在蒙羅維亞爲政府獻計獻策。“你必須讓隔離區裏的人覺得，他們正在獲得幫助，而不是遭到壓制。”

Isolating communities has succeeded in some rural areas in past outbreaks in Central Africa. But the quarantine of an entire urban neighborhood, where an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 people are crammed into crumbling shacks, has proved to be more than just porous. It has also led to deadly clashes with soldiers and may even be helping spread the disease, experts say, forcing people to crowd together for basic humanitarian aid, like food relief.

之前中非爆發疫情時，隔離社區的做法在一些農村地區取得過成功。但西點地處市區，估計有6到12萬人擠在那裏搖搖欲墜的窩棚裏，事實已經證明，對這樣整整一個城市地區進行隔離，除了漏洞百出之外，還有其他問題。專家們說，隔離還導致了人們與士兵之間發生致命衝突，甚至有可能助長了這種疾病的傳播，因爲在獲取基本的人道主義援助，比如食品救濟時，人們不得不擠在一起。

Cordoned off from the city, young men in West Point squeeze together in dense lines for rice and water, pushing and shoving, sweat mixing, saliva flying, blood sometimes spilling. One morning, a man in a wheelchair trying to cut to the front was beaten, stripped and left sprawled in the middle of the road, urinating over himself.

警戒線將西點與城市其他部分隔開，隔離區內的年輕男子們在擠在一起，密密匝匝地排着隊，等待領取大米和水，他們推推搡搡、汗水四灑、唾沫橫飛，有時還會發生流血事件。一天早晨，一個坐輪椅的男子試圖插隊，結果捱了打，衣服被剝下，趴在路中間小便失禁。

“The quarantine is going to worsen the spread of Ebola,” said Dr. Muyembe, the director of the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. “It’s difficult to understand the motivation behind it. It’s simply not a good strategy.”

“隔離會加劇埃博拉的蔓延，”穆延貝博士說，他是剛果民主共和國金沙薩的國家生物醫學研究所(National Institute for Biomedical Research)的主任。“難以理解這個策略背後的動機是什麼。但它就是不好。”

Lewis Brown, the Liberian minister of information, said the president made the decision based on both health and security concerns. Though Ebola has been spreading throughout other parts of the city, he said, the government singled out West Point because of its dense population and its potential for political instability, as shown when residents recently stormed an Ebola holding center that they did not want in the neighborhood.

利比里亞信息部長路易斯·布朗(Lewis Brown)表示，總統基於對健康和安全的考慮做出了這個決定。雖然埃博拉也在該城市的其他部分蔓延，他說，但政府挑選了西點來隔離，因爲那裏人口密集，可能會出現政治動盪，最近發生的一起事件就說明了這一點：那裏的居民衝擊了一個埃博拉病患收容中心，因爲他們不希望西點有這樣的中心。

“We’re not saying that Ebola is any more present in West Point than other places in the country — that’s not the argument we’re making,” Mr. Brown said. “But the potential is in the size of the area and the interaction with the city itself.”

“我們不是說，目前西點的埃博拉疫情比國內其他地方的更猖獗——我們不是這個意思，”布朗說。“但是，從西點的規模大小，以及它與城市本身之間的往來狀況來看，糟糕的情況有可能發生。”

He added: “We’re not claiming to be experts on Ebola. We’ve never had to deal with this kind of thing, but we’ve always had to deal with our people. We understand our people more than we understand this disease.”

他還說：“我們沒有自稱是埃博拉方面的專家。我們之前從來沒有處理過這類事情，但我們一直都在和本國民衆打交道。我們對民衆的瞭解，多過我們對這種疾病的瞭解。”

Ms. Johnson Sirleaf has made no public statement since the start of the quarantine and the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old West Point boy, Shakie Kamara, who was caught in a battle between soldiers and men trying to break out of the quarantine zone.

隔離開始之後，在士兵和試圖衝破隔離區的民衆之間發生的一次衝突中，15歲的西點男孩薩克·卡馬拉(Shakie Kamara)遭槍擊身亡。總統約翰遜·瑟利夫從隔離開始到現在，一直沒有發表任何公開聲明。

During her visit to West Point, she apologized to his family and looked at those calling for help with sympathy in her eyes, saying little. Walking several feet behind her, a man in a checkered shirt pulled out Liberian dollar bills from a backpack with his gloved hand and tossed the money to the loudest protesters. The money silenced their criticism but immediately set off fistfights.

在探訪西點時，她對他的家人表達了歉意，並向那些要求幫助的人投去同情的目光，但沒說太多話。在她的身後數英尺的地方，一個身穿格子襯衫、戴着手套的男子，從揹包裏掏出利比里亞鈔票，拋給聲音最響亮的抗議者。這些錢雖然讓他們停止了出口指責，但立刻又引起了爭奪打鬥。

A Toyota Land Cruiser took the president out of West Point. Her guards and entourage followed on foot, tossing their used gloves on the ground on their way out.

一輛豐田陸地巡洋艦(Toyota Land Cruiser)載着總統離開了西點。警衛和隨從們步行跟隨在她車後，在離開途中，他們把自己用過的手套扔在路上。

An Explosive Outbreak

疫情猖獗

No one knows yet why Ebola has succeeded in spreading at such an alarming rate here in the capital. Ebola has reached the capital cities of Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Conakry, Guinea — the two other West African nations most affected by the current outbreak — but the disease has been more effectively contained in those cities.

沒有人知道爲什麼在利比里亞首都，埃博拉疫情會以如此驚人的速度蔓延。埃博拉疫情也擴散到了塞拉利昂首都弗里敦，以及幾內亞首都科納克里——本次疫情最嚴重的另外兩個西非國家——但那些城市均已經更有效地控制了疫情。

The first cases in Monrovia were reported only in June. Infections have multiplied quickly here in recent weeks, illustrating the speed with which Ebola can spread in a major urban area. The county containing Monrovia quickly registered the nation’s biggest death toll — now 274 deaths out of a national total of 754, according to the Ministry of Health.

蒙羅維亞的第一批病例今年6月纔出現。但在最近幾周，感染人數成倍增加，顯示了埃博拉可以以怎樣的速度在主要城市地區蔓延。蒙羅維亞所在的縣迅速創下了該國最高的死亡人數——衛生部的資料顯示，該縣的死亡人數現在達到274人，全國死亡人數爲754人。

“The Conakry outbreaks have been very small, and they haven’t exploded in Freetown,” said Dr. Armand Sprecher, an Ebola expert for Doctors Without Borders here. “So something is different in Monrovia. It’s something in the disease transmission behaviors in Monrovia that has done this. That’s my guess. We’ve never seen this kind of explosion in an urban environment before.”

“在科納克里，疫情爆發的規模非常小，弗里敦的情況也不嚴重，”阿曼德·斯普雷徹(Armand Sprecher)博士說，他是埃博拉方面的專家，爲這裏的無國界醫生(Doctors Without Borders)組織工作。“所以在蒙羅維亞，有些不一樣的特徵。蒙羅維亞在疾病傳播方面的特徵，導致了疫情爆發的程度不同。這是我的猜測。我們以前從來沒有見過，埃博拉疫情在城市環境中這樣猖獗地爆發。”

As the situation worsened in the capital in mid-August, the government established the city’s first Ebola holding center in West Point, Monrovia’s biggest slum and political opposition stronghold. Locals ransacked and closed down the center within days.

隨着8月中旬首都的狀況發生惡化，政府在西點開設了全市首家埃博拉收容中心；西點是蒙羅維亞最大的貧民窟，也是政治反對派的大本營。沒過幾天，當地人就洗劫並關閉了這家中心。

On Aug. 20, under the president’s orders, the army and police placed West Point under quarantine — the first time, some experts say, that a quarantine was attempted on such a scale. West Point reacted with fury: hundreds of young men tried to storm through the barricades. As soldiers fired live rounds to drive them back, the 15-year-old boy, Shakie, was killed. Only heavy rain starting around noon put a stop to the riots.

8月20日，軍隊和警察遵照總統的命令，把西點隔離開來——一些專家說，這是首次進行如此大規模隔離的嘗試。西點做出了憤怒的迴應：成百上千名年輕男子試圖衝破路障。爲了將他們驅趕回去，士兵們發射了實彈，導致15歲的男孩卡馬拉中彈身亡。直到中午下起瓢潑大雨，這場騷亂才告一段落。

In rural areas, quarantining communities can work if they are small enough and unified under political or traditional leadership, experts say.

在農村地區，如果地方足夠小，而且可以在政治領導力或傳統領導力的影響下團結起來，隔離社區的辦法是可以奏效的，專家們說。

“What is important is for the people to participate in the process; otherwise it becomes too difficult to implement effectively,” said Dr. Nestor Ndayimirije, the World Health Organization’s director for Liberia.

“重要的是，民衆要參與這一進程；否則隔離就會變得很困難，無法有效實施”，世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)在利比里亞的主管內斯特·德米瑞吉(Nestor Ndayimirije)博士說。

A week into the quarantine of West Point, life has been getting harder for those without the means or connections to get out. The price of goods that find their way into the quarantine zone — rice, water, coal, prepaid cellphone cards, soap — has doubled.

西點被隔離一週後，對於那些找不到辦法和人脈離開這裏的居民來說，生活變得越發艱難起來。大米、水、煤、預付費手機卡、肥皂等流入隔離區的商品，價格已經翻了一番。

“People are fighting for food to eat,” said Victor Nwanodu, who owns one of West Point’s most popular public toilets and baths. Business has dropped, he said, as people can no longer afford to pay for a hot bath.

“人們在爭搶食物吃，”維克多·萬諾多(Victor Nwanodu)說，西點人氣最旺的公共衛生間和浴室之一就是他開的。但浴室生意已經下滑，他表示，因爲人們沒有餘錢來洗上一個熱水澡了。

Serena Wallo, 31, was one of a few dozen people whose houses were washed away this week along West Point’s heavily eroded shoreline. Unable to leave the quarantine zone, her family now has to stay with friends in the area, in the kind of overcrowded conditions where Ebola thrives.

在西點一些遭到嚴重侵蝕的海岸線上，本週有幾十人的房屋被沖毀，31歲的塞麗娜·瓦諾(Serena Wallo)就是受災者之一。由於無法離開隔離區，她和家人現在只能投靠西點的朋友，在那種擁擠的居住條件下，埃博拉病毒很容易傳播。

“I’m not happy with the government,” Ms. Wallo said. “They are treating us like we are slaves.”

“我對政府不滿，”瓦諾說。“他們對待我們的態度，就好像我們是奴隸一樣。”