梅毒在中国死灰复燃
【英文原文】
Syphilis Makes A Comeback
In 2008, at least one syphilis-infected baby was born in China every hour--nearly 9,500 new infant cases in one year--according to a new report published last week. This represents a 12-fold increase over a five-year period.
The number of infants born with syphilis is a worrying sign of the resurgence of the disease in China. The report, in the New England Journal of Medicine, says that 'no other country has seen such a precipitous increase in syphilis cases in the penicillin era.' (Penicillin began to be widely used as an effective treatment against syphilis, a bacterial infection, in the 1940s). In Shanghai, syphilis is now the most commonly reported communicable disease.
China's syphilis epidemic is described as 'a major scourge' and a consequence of China's rapid economic development. Fifty years ago, the sexually transmitted infection was nearly eliminated, thanks to a massive Communist-led crackdown on prostitution and a major treatment campaign. But since China began its opening and reform thirty years ago, the world's oldest profession has made a comeback, and so has syphilis.
In addition to female sex workers, men who have sex with men are also at a higher risk for syphilis. The report says that these two groups 'disproportionately bear the burden of the Chinese syphilis epidemic, in part because unsafe sexual practices in these populations are driving the rate of infection and in part because the stigma attached to their sexual behaviors discourages them from obtaining needed care.'
Meanwhile, the social stigma associated with sexually transmitted disease creates an obstacle to wider screening and treatment for syphilis. Left untreated, syphilis can damage the brain, heart and other organs and lead to death. And although health authorities in China have taken some measures to improve screening and treatment for the illness, the report's authors conclude that there is still greater need for public recognition of the growing public health problem and more government funding to tackle it.
【中文译文】
上周发布的一份最新报告显示，2008年，中国每小时至少有一名先天性梅毒患儿出生，一年下来就有接近9,500个新病例，是五年前的12倍。
这是一个危险信号，说明梅毒正在中国死灰复燃。这篇发表在《新英格兰医学杂志》(The New England Journal of Medicine)上的报告说，自从青霉素普遍使用以来，还没有哪个国家的梅毒发病率出现了如此大幅度的增长。（梅毒是一种细菌感染，从上世纪40年代开始，人们普遍使用青霉素来治疗梅毒，效果不错。）在上海，梅毒已成为最常见的传染病。
梅毒在中国的蔓延被形容为一场“重大灾难”，人们认为它是中国经济迅速发展的结果。50年前，由于中国在共产党领导下展开了一场声势浩大的禁止卖淫运动，并进行了大规模的治疗，这种通过性行为进行传播的疾病已近消声匿迹。但自从三十年前中国开始改革开放后，卖淫这项世界上最古老的职业卷土重来，梅毒也随之蔓延。
除女性性工作者外，男性间性接触感染梅毒的风险也很高。报告称，这两类群体是中国梅毒传播的最主要渠道，比例非常之高，部分原因是这类人群不安全的性行为推高了感染机率，另有部分原因是该病与不检点性行为的联系使他们羞于寻求应有的治疗。
同时，这一疾病通过不良性行为传播的这一社会观点也为对梅毒进行更广泛的诊断与治疗带来困难。而若不及时治疗，任由其发展，这种病会损伤大脑、心脏及其它身体器官，并导致死亡。该报道的作者最后指出，尽管中国的医疗权威机构已采取了部分措施来改善这种疾病的诊断与治疗，但公众对于这个越来越危及公共健康问题的疾病的意识需增强，而政府也需要增加解决这一问题的资金。
