猪流感流行对公共卫生安全的威胁有多严重?

【中文原文】

猪流感流行对公共卫生安全的威胁有多严重?

　　　任何流感大流行都令人不安,特别是当一种新型毒株介入的时候警告"能有效地在人与人之间传播并致病的新(对人)流感A病毒,都很可能是疾病大爆发的威胁."不同于季节性流感,令人担忧的是,此次墨西哥爆发的猪流感攻击健康的年轻人.这是会导致大流行的病毒的标志特点. 但要在人类间制造一次流感大流行还需要不止新病毒一种诱因.病毒必须从一个人有效地传播到下一个,并长时间持续这种传播能力.另外,病毒还得在广泛地域传播.

【参考译文】　

How Serious Is the Public Health Threat of a Swine Flu Epidemic?

Any flu epidemic is worrisome, especially when a new strain of flu bug is involved.

"Influenza A viruses new to the human population that are able to efficiently transmit from person to person and cause illness may represent a pandemic threat," the CDC warns.

It's worrisome that, unlike seasonal flu, the swine flu outbreak in Mexico is attacking healthy young people. That's a hallmark of pandemic flu bugs.

But it takes more than a new virus spreading among humans to make a pandemic. The virus has to be able to spread efficiently from one person to another, and transmission has to be sustained over time. In addition, the virus has to spread geographically.