豬流感流行對公共衛生安全的威脅有多嚴重?

【中文原文】

豬流感流行對公共衛生安全的威脅有多嚴重?

　　　任何流感大流行都令人不安,特別是當一種新型毒株介入的時候警告"能有效地在人與人之間傳播並致病的新(對人)流感A病毒,都很可能是疾病大爆發的威脅."不同於季節性流感,令人擔憂的是,此次墨西哥爆發的豬流感攻擊健康的年輕人.這是會導致大流行的病毒的標誌特點. 但要在人類間製造一次流感大流行還需要不止新病毒一種誘因.病毒必須從一個人有效地傳播到下一個,並長時間持續這種傳播能力.另外,病毒還得在廣泛地域傳播.

【參考譯文】　

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.