美機場將測試埃博拉疫區乘客體溫

ATLANTA — Federal health officials will require temperature checks for the first time at five major American airports for people arriving from the three West African countries hardest hit by the deadly Ebola virus. However, health experts said the measures were more likely to calm a worried public than to prevent many people with Ebola from entering the country.

亞特蘭大——根據聯邦衛生官員的要求，美國的五大機場將首次對來自受致命性埃博拉病毒影響最爲嚴重的三個西非國家的乘客進行體溫測試。不過，衛生專家稱，這些措施更大的作用可能是平息公衆的擔憂，並不是爲了阻止多大規模的埃博拉病毒攜帶者進入美國。

Still, they constitute the first large-scale attempt to improve security at American ports of entry since the virus arrived on American soil last month.

儘管如此，上述舉措仍然是埃博拉病毒上個月出現在美國本土之後，在美國入境口岸加強保障的首次大規模嘗試。

And they also mark a notable policy shift at a time of rising concern about the Disease. Public health officials had initially resisted the move, saying such checks would be an unnecessary use of thinly stretched resources. But pressure for tougher action mounted. Republicans sharply criticized President Obama for what they called a lax response. Many, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, have pushed to restrict air travel from West Africa, something the administration has rejected.

此外，在埃博拉引發的擔憂不斷加劇的同時，上述措施還標誌着一次明顯的政策轉向。公共衛生官員最初曾拒絕這一手段，稱此類檢查是對有限資源的無謂浪費。不過，採取更有力行動的壓力與日俱增。共和黨人稱奧巴馬應對不力，對其進行了激烈的譴責。包括德克薩斯州聯邦參議員特德·克魯茲(Ted Cruz)在內的許多人都要求限制來自西非的旅客入境，但奧巴馬政府一直拒絕採取這一做法。

The temperature check requirements were announced hours after the first Ebola patient to have the illness diagnosed in the United States, Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian, died in a Dallas hospital, intensifying questions about whether he might have survived had he been admitted to a hospital when he first sought care there in late September.

美國本土確診的首位埃博拉患者、利比里亞人托馬斯·埃裏克·鄧肯(Thomas Eric Duncan)在達拉斯的一家醫院去世。幾個小時後，體溫篩查措施對外公佈。鄧肯的死加劇了外界的質疑，即假如他9月末首次求醫時就被收治，是否就不會死。

The president's Republican critics were largely silent Wednesday after Mr. Duncan died and the administration announced the airport screenings. It was unclear if the Republicans saw the temperature checks as a sufficient response to the epidemic or if they did not want to be perceived as seeking political gain from Mr. Duncan's death.

在鄧肯病逝以及政府宣佈了機場的篩查措施之後，批評奧巴馬的共和黨人週三基本上保持了沉默。不知道這是因爲共和黨人認爲用體溫篩查來應對埃博拉已經足夠，還是因爲他們不願意被視作利用鄧肯的死亡撈取政治利益。

That Mr. Duncan was able to get from Liberia to Dallas as the disease surged out of control in West Africa underscored the risk of spreading disease in a globalized world. An infected Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, carried the disease to Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, on a flight for business. Mr. Duncan had come to the United States to reunite with family.

埃博拉在西非肆虐的同時，鄧肯卻能夠從利比里亞來到達拉斯，這一事實突顯了疾病在全球化的世界中蔓延的風險。感染埃博拉病毒的利比里亞裔美國公民帕特里克·索耶(Patrick Sawyer)在差旅過程中將病毒傳播到了非洲人口最多的國家尼日利亞。鄧肯來美國則是爲了與家人團聚。

"We are a global village," said Howard Markel, a professor of the history of medicine at the University of Michigan. "Germs have always traveled. The problem now is they can travel with the speed of a jet plane."

“我們生活在一個地球村，”密歇根大學醫學史教授霍華德·馬克爾(Howard Markel)說。“病菌永遠都在傳播。現在的問題是，它如今可以用飛機的速度傳播。”

The new requirement of temperature checks has broad implications for health departments across the country.

新的體溫檢測措施將爲全美的衛生部門帶來廣泛影響。

In a conference call with state and local officials Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Obama expressed confidence in the procedures already in place to prevent the spread of Ebola, but urged them to be vigilant in the days and weeks ahead.

週三下午，在與州級和地方官員的電話會議上，奧巴馬錶示對目前實施的防止埃博拉病毒擴散的措施抱有信心，但同時敦促這些官員在接下來的時間裏保持警惕。

"As we saw in Dallas, we don't have a lot of margin for error," Mr. Obama told the group, according to a transcript released by the White House. "If we don't follow protocols and procedures that are put in place, then we're putting folks in our communities at risk."

“正如我們在達拉斯所看到的，我們沒有多少犯錯的餘地，”根據白宮發佈的文字記錄，奧巴馬對這些官員說。“如果我們不遵守現有的規章和程序，我們就是在把自己社區的民衆置於危險之中。”

Experts cautioned that a temperature check on arrival would almost certainly not have detected that Mr. Duncan had Ebola before he entered the country. The disease typically incubates for eight to 10 days before symptoms including fever develop.

一些專家提醒，即使在鄧肯入境前對其進行體溫測試，也幾乎不可能察覺他感染了埃博拉病毒。這種病毒一般有8到10天的潛伏期，然後纔會引起發熱等症狀。

American health officials believe Mr. Duncan did not have a fever when he arrived in the United States, a view seconded by his family. "There's a sense that this is a be-all-and-end-all and that this will put up an iron curtain, but it won't," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University. "At the very most, all we are buying here is some reduction of anxiety." He added: "That's worth something because, at the moment, we have a much larger outbreak of anxiety than we have of Ebola."

美國的衛生官員相信，鄧肯在落地的時候並沒有發熱症狀。他的家人也支持這一看法。“有人認爲體溫測試是一個萬全之策，如同豎起了一道銅牆鐵壁，但實際上並非如此，”範德堡大學(Vanderbilt University)預防醫學教授威廉·沙夫納博士(William Schaffner)說。“我們最多隻能減少一些焦慮。”他接着說：“這種做法有一定價值，因爲當前，我們的焦慮程度比埃博拉疫情本身要嚴重得多。”

The measures will go into effect on Saturday at Kennedy International Airport in New York. JFK receives about 43 percent of the people who fly to the United States from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Next week, screenings will begin at Washington Dulles, which gets 22 percent of such travelers, and at Newark Liberty International, O'Hare International in Chicago and Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta.

這些措施將於本週六在紐約的肯尼迪國際機場（Kennedy International Airport，簡稱JFK）開始實行。從塞拉利昂、利比里亞和幾內亞飛往美國的乘客中，約43%在JFK抵達。接待22%的此類旅客的華盛頓杜勒斯機場(Dulles)，以及紐瓦克自由國際機場(Newark Liberty International)、芝加哥奧黑爾國際機場(O'Hare International)和亞特蘭大哈茲菲爾德-傑克遜國際機場(Hartsfield-Jackson International)也將於下週開始這一做法。

After a passport check, airport workers will lead travelers to a special area and point a thermometer at their foreheads. The workers will also ask travelers questions. A fever can be a symptom of Ebola. Those who have a temperature will be taken to a quarantine area in the airports and evaluated by an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It will be up to local health departments whether to place them in quarantine.

在護照檢查後，機場工作人員會把乘客帶到一個專門的區域，用體溫儀對着他們的額頭測量溫度。工作人員還會詢問他們一些問題。發燒可能是埃博拉的一個症狀。因此，發熱的乘客將會被帶到機場的隔離區，接受美國疾病控制與預防中心（Centers for Disease Control and Prevention，簡稱CDC）的一名官員的評估。是否需要對旅客採取隔離措施則取決於當地衛生部門。

In Texas, for example, health authorities required some people who had contact with Mr. Duncan to be monitored by health professionals to be sure their temperatures were properly monitored, said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the C.D.C. director.

例如，CDC主任托馬斯·R·弗裏登博士(Thomas R. Frieden)稱，在德克薩斯，衛生部門要求醫護專業人士對一些接觸過鄧肯的人進行觀察，確保其體溫受到應有的監測。

"Ebola is scary, it's a deadly disease," he said. "But we know how to stop it."

“埃博拉的確可怕，它致人死亡，”他說。“但我們知道如何遏制它。”

He added, "Health workers throughout the U.S. need to think Ebola."

他接着說，“全美的衛生工作人員都要把埃博拉放在心上。”

The number of travelers from the affected West African countries is relatively small, and Dr. Frieden said the measures were unlikely to be disruptive. Only about 150 people a day come to the United States from the three countries, and the five airports receive about 94 percent of them.

西非疫區國家的旅客人數相對較少，而且弗裏登博士說，測體溫的措施不大可能對機場秩序造成影響。每天只有約150人從這三個國家來到美國，其中94%在這五座機場降落。

In Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, C.D.C.-trained local workers have been screening people as they depart from Africa. Of the roughly 36,000 travelers who left the three countries over the past two months, about a quarter came to the United States, officials said. Of those, just 77 had symptoms, such as a fever. Most were related to malaria, a disease spread by mosquitoes. None were Ebola, Dr. Frieden said.

在利比里亞、塞拉利昂和幾內亞，接受了CDC培訓的當地工作人員一直在對從非洲出發的旅客進行篩查。官員稱，過去兩個月從這三個國家出發的約3.6萬名旅客中，約四分之一進入了美國。其中只有77人出現了一些症狀，比如發熱。多數人的症狀與通過蚊子傳播的瘧疾有關。無人攜帶埃博拉病毒，弗裏登博士說。