As 2020 dawned, the World Health Organization received its first emerging disease notification of the decade. Authorities reported that dozens of people in Wuhan City, China, were ill with “pneumonia of unknown cause”, some with severe respiratory symptoms. Experts now suggest that more than 1,700 people may have been infected.
随着2020年到来，世界卫生组织(WHO)收到了10年来第一份新发疾病通报。中国当局报告称，中国武汉市有数十人患有“不明原因肺炎”，有些人伴有严重的呼吸道症状。现在专家表示，可能有逾1700人被感染。
Microbiologists quickly ruled out known pathogens. Within a week experts in China identified the cause as a new virus from the same family as severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), with people likely to have been infected through a seafood market.
微生物学家很快排除了已知的病原体。一周之内，中国专家将病因确定为一种新型病毒。该病毒与“非典”冠状病毒(Sars)和中东呼吸综合症冠状病毒(Mers)同属一个家族。病患很可能是通过一个海鲜市场感染的。
The history of emerging diseases and likely future demographic changes suggest that we are in for many outbreaks of infectious disease by 2050. That said, advancing medical technology will give us better weapons to respond to and protect people from emerging infections.
新发疾病的历史，以及人口在未来的可能变化表明，在2050年之前，我们将遭遇多次传染病疫情爆发。话虽如此，先进的医疗技术将为我们提供更好的武器来应对疫情，保护人们免受新发传染性疾病的威胁。
Viruses give public health experts nightmares because they tend to emerge quickly — apparently out of nowhere — and spread more rapidly than other pathogens. On the whole viruses are also harder to diagnose, prevent and treat than bacteria.
病毒是公共卫生专家的噩梦，因为它们往往迅速出现——显然是凭空出现的——并且传播速度比其他病原体更快。总的来说，病毒还比细菌更难诊断、预防和治疗。