中東出現非典樣病毒 至少一人死亡

Global health authorities are hunting for cases of a mysterious respiratory illness that killed at least one person in Saudi Arabia and left another who traveled there in intensive care in a London hospital.

全球衛生機構正在搜尋一種神祕呼吸系統疾病的病例。該病已在沙特阿拉伯造成至少一人死亡，另有一名曾前往沙特的人目前正在倫敦一家醫院的重症監護室接受治療。

Health officials said the source of the virus infecting both is unknown, though they have identified it as a coronavirus, part of a large family of viruses that in most cases cause common colds, but also have caused SARS.

衛生部門官員說，上述兩人感染的病毒來源不明，不過他們已經確認這是一種冠狀病毒。這種病毒屬於一大類病毒中的一種，這類病毒通常會引發普通感冒，但也曾引發非典型肺炎(SARS)。

Severe acute respiratory syndrome erupted in China in late 2002 and spread to a number of countries, infecting more than 8,000 people and killing about 775 before it disappeared in mid 2003.

2002年底，中國爆發了非典，並擴散至多個國家，導致逾8,000人染病，約775人死亡，非典疫情在2003年年中消退。

The World Health Organization said the new virus has been identified in a 49-year-old man from Qatar who traveled to Saudi Arabia before falling ill Sept. 3. He is being treated for acute respiratory syndrome and kidney failure.

世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)說，在一名49歲卡塔爾男子體內檢測到了這種新型病毒，這名男子曾前往沙特，之後於9月3日患病。他目前正因急性呼吸系統綜合徵和腎衰竭而接受治療。

The virus that infected him bears a 99.5% similarity to one isolated from the lung tissue of a 60-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who died this summer after suffering respiratory and kidney failure, the WHO said.

世界衛生組織說，該男子感染的病毒與今夏一名死於呼吸衰竭和腎衰竭的60歲沙特男子肺組織中分離出來的病毒的相似度達99.5%。

Saudi officials identified a third death, but didn't give further details. The WHO said it was a suspect case that can't be confirmed postmortem.

沙特官員發現了第三例死亡病例，但沒有透露更多詳細情況。世界衛生組織說，這是一例疑似病例，在對屍體進行檢驗之前還不能確定。

However, the U.K.'s Health Protection Agency said it was investigating the case of a person from the Middle East who died in the U.K.

不過，英國健康保護署(Health Protection Agency)說，正在就一名中東人在英國死亡一事進行調查。

'There is no evidence at present to suggest that it is caused by the same virus or linked to the other two cases,' the HPA said, adding that it was 'aware of a small number of other cases of serious respiratory illness in the Middle East in the past three months.'

英國健康保護署說，目前沒有證據表明此人的死亡是由與另外兩例病例相同的病毒造成的，或是與那兩例病例有關。該機構還說，據它所知，過去三個月中，中東還出現了幾例嚴重呼吸系統疾病病例。

The cases come a month ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage, which draws millions of Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. The Hajj pilgrimage runs this year from roughly Oct. 24 to Oct. 29.

這些病例發生時距離麥加朝聖(Hajj pilgrimage)還有一個月。每年麥加朝聖會吸引數百萬穆斯林前往沙特朝聖。今年的麥加朝聖將從大約10月24日持續至29日。

Saudi Arabia's health ministry played down the threat. 'Such occasions are rare…and there is no cause for concern,' the health ministry said.

沙特衛生部淡化了疾病的威脅。衛生部說，這類偶發病例很少見，沒有必要擔心。

The two confirmed cases have no connection to one another─except that both were in Saudi Arabia. The Qatari man was hospitalized in an intensive care unit in Qatar on Sept. 7 and taken by air ambulance to London Sept. 11.

兩例確診病例除均發生在沙特外，彼此之間沒有關聯。9月7日，上述卡塔爾男子在卡塔爾入院就醫，在重症監護室中接受治療，9月11日被醫用飛機送到倫敦。

With no indication yet whether the new virus is like SARS, which spread from person to person, officials are tracking this new virus closely.

目前尚無跡象顯示新型病毒與非典病毒是否類似，有關部門正在密切跟蹤這種病毒。非典病毒可以在人際間傳播。

'There is way too little information,' WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said. 'We don't know if the denominator is two cases or 20,000 cases. We don't know how it is transmitted.'

世界衛生組織發言人哈特爾(Gregory Hartl)說，信息太少，我們不知道病例有兩個，還是兩萬；我們不清楚病毒的傳播方式。

But Mr. Hartl said the new disease was unlikely to be SARS itself, because the symptoms differ. Kidney failure wasn't a feature of SARS, and in general is unusual for a respiratory illness, he said.

不過，哈特爾說，新的疾病不太可能是非典，因爲症狀不同。他說，腎衰竭不是非典的症狀，呼吸系統疾病通常也很少出現腎衰竭。

The WHO has alerted health authorities around the world about the two cases and said reports of potential cases were being followed up.

世界衛生組織已經就這兩例病例向全球衛生機構發出警報，並且說正在密切跟蹤潛在病例報告。