擔(dān)心感染新的冠狀病毒嗎?在美國，流感是一個(gè)更大的威脅

擔(dān)心感染新的冠狀病毒嗎?在美國，流感是一個(gè)更大的威脅

If you live in the U.S, your risk of contracting the new strain of coronavirus identified in China is exceedingly low.

如果你住在美國，你感染在中國發(fā)現(xiàn)的新型冠狀病毒的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)非常低。

Severe respiratory virus that threatens lives — the influenza or "flu" virus — is very active in the U.S. right now.

威脅生命的嚴(yán)重呼吸道病毒——流感或“流感”病毒——目前在美國非常活躍。

Already this flu season (which generally begins in the U.S. in October and peaks during winter months), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 15 million people in the U.S. have gotten sick with flu. More than 150.000 Americans have been hospitalized, and more than 8.000 people have died from their infection. And, this isn't even a particularly bad flu year.

美國疾病控制與預(yù)防中心(簡稱CDC)估計(jì)，今年的流感季(通常始于美國的10月份，在冬季達(dá)到高峰)已經(jīng)有超過1.500萬人感染了流感。超過15萬美國人住院治療，超過8000人死于感染。而且，今年還不是特別嚴(yán)重的流感年。

"Last year we had 34.000 deaths from flu," says epidemiologist Brandon Brown of the University of California, Riverside. On average, the flu is responsible for somewhere between 12.000 and 61.000 deaths each year. "And this is just in the United States," Brown says.

“去年我們有34000人死于流感，”加州大學(xué)河濱分校的流行病學(xué)家布蘭登·布朗說。平均而言，每年死于流感的人數(shù)在1.2萬到6.1萬人之間。“這只是在美國，”布朗說。

A flu shot is your best way to protect against getting the flu, and it's still not too late to be vaccinated this season.

注射流感疫苗是預(yù)防流感的最好方法，現(xiàn)在接種流感疫苗還為時(shí)不晚。

There's another very effective strategy for fending off the flu virus — one that could also help protect against the novel coronavirus if it were to spread within the U.S, Brown says.

還有一種非常有效的方法來抵御流感病毒——如果這種新型冠狀病毒在美國境內(nèi)傳播，這種方法也可以幫助人們抵御這種病毒。布朗說。

His top tip is remarkably simple, effective — and familiar. Ready for this? Wash your hands. You need to lather up and wash for at least 20 seconds to make this work, according to the CDC's tips for proper hand-washing. The time it takes to hum the song "Happy Birthday' twice is about right duration.

他的建議非常簡單、有效，也很熟悉。準(zhǔn)備好了嗎?洗你的手。根據(jù)美國疾病控制與預(yù)防中心關(guān)于正確洗手的建議，你需要用肥皂洗手至少20秒。哼兩遍《生日快樂》這首歌所花的時(shí)間大約是正確的長度。

"Our hands are one of the main ways we can transmit a virus," Brown says. As a reality check, begin to notice everything you touch in a day. "We shake other people's hands, we touch surfaces, open doors," he notes.

“我們的手是傳播病毒的主要途徑之一，”布朗說。作為一個(gè)現(xiàn)實(shí)的檢查，開始注意你一天中接觸的每件東西。“我們和別人握手，我們觸摸物體，開門，”他說。

In addition to inhaling airborne particles from a neighbor's cough or sneeze, touching your hand to a contaminated surface and then to your eyes, nose or mouth is how the virus most often gets inside you.

除了從鄰居的咳嗽或打噴嚏中吸入空氣中的顆粒外，接觸污染表面的手，然后接觸眼睛、鼻子或嘴巴是病毒最常進(jìn)入你體內(nèi)的方式。

There's still a lot to learn about the new coronavirus, but respiratory illnesses in general — whether the flu, a cold, or a virus that humans haven't encountered before — can spread via little respiratory droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs.

關(guān)于這種新型冠狀病毒，我們還有很多需要了解的地方，但一般的呼吸系統(tǒng)疾病——無論是流感、感冒，還是人類以前從未接觸過的病毒——都可以在感染者打噴嚏或咳嗽時(shí)通過呼吸道飛沫傳播。

That's why we teach our kids to cover their coughs, and to sneeze into an elbow. Each of us can help prevent the spread of viruses, and good hygiene habits are key.

這就是為什么我們要教孩子們咳嗽時(shí)捂著嘴，對著胳膊肘打噴嚏。我們每個(gè)人都可以幫助預(yù)防病毒的傳播，良好的衛(wèi)生習(xí)慣是關(guān)鍵。

Another important reminder: The CDC recommends a pneumococcal vaccine for children under 2. for adults who are 65 or older, and for people who smoke, as well as for those who have certain medical conditions.

另一個(gè)重要的提醒是:美國疾病控制與預(yù)防中心建議為2歲以下兒童、65歲以上成年人、吸煙人士以及有某些疾病的人接種肺炎球菌疫苗。

It's not that this vaccine will directly fight the pneumonia caused by influenza or the new coronavirus; the pneumococcal vaccine actually revs the body's defenses against a different microbe — the common bacterium Streptococcus pneumonia – that also causes pneumonia.

并不是說這種疫苗能直接對抗流感引起的肺炎或新型冠狀病毒;肺炎球菌疫苗實(shí)際上能增強(qiáng)人體對另一種微生物的抵抗力，這種微生物就是常見的肺炎鏈球菌，它也能引起肺炎。

However, one of the main reasons some people get very sick from flu is that, once infected and weakened by the influenza virus, they are extra vulnerable to getting a secondary infection from bacteria — and often, it's the pneumococcal bacteria.

然而，一些人感染流感的主要原因之一是，一旦感染并被流感病毒削弱，他們更容易受到細(xì)菌的二次感染——通常是肺炎球菌。

For an historical perspective: It was actually bacterial pneumonia that caused the most deaths during the 1918 influenza pandemic, according to the National Institutes of Health.

從歷史的角度來看:根據(jù)美國國立衛(wèi)生研究院的數(shù)據(jù)，在1918年流感大流行期間，造成最多死亡的實(shí)際上是細(xì)菌性肺炎。

By fending off those bacteria, the pneumococcal vaccine can be an important part of a flu defense — and might also help in the defense against the new coronavirus strain.

通過抵御這些細(xì)菌，肺炎球菌疫苗可以成為流感防御的重要組成部分，也可能有助于防御新的冠狀病毒株。

"We don't know whether this new coronavirus tends to predispose people toward pneumococcal infection, but many respiratory viruses do," explains Marc Lipsitch, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

哈佛大學(xué)公共衛(wèi)生學(xué)院傳染病流行病學(xué)家馬克里皮解釋說:“我們不知道這種新型冠狀病毒是否會使人容易感染肺炎球菌，但許多呼吸道病毒會。”

"It [would be] better to be infected with only coronavirus, rather than the coronavirus and a bacterium at the same time," Lipsitch says.

“最好只感染冠狀病毒，而不是同時(shí)感染冠狀病毒和細(xì)菌，”里皮說。

In general, when we get a virus, "the immune system is distracted." It focuses on fighting the virus, and that makes it harder to fend off a bacterial infection. "It's hard [for the immune system] to do both at once," Lipstich explains.

一般來說，當(dāng)我們感染病毒時(shí)，“免疫系統(tǒng)會分散注意力。”它專注于對抗病毒，這使得它更難抵御細(xì)菌感染。“(免疫系統(tǒng))很難同時(shí)做到這兩件事，”里皮解釋說。