梅毒在中國死灰復燃

【英文原文】

Syphilis Makes A Comeback

In 2008, at least one syphilis-infected baby was born in China every hour--nearly 9,500 new infant cases in one year--according to a new report published last week. This represents a 12-fold increase over a five-year period.

The number of infants born with syphilis is a worrying sign of the resurgence of the disease in China. The report, in the New England Journal of Medicine, says that 'no other country has seen such a precipitous increase in syphilis cases in the penicillin era.' (Penicillin began to be widely used as an effective treatment against syphilis, a bacterial infection, in the 1940s). In Shanghai, syphilis is now the most commonly reported communicable disease.

China's syphilis epidemic is described as 'a major scourge' and a consequence of China's rapid economic development. Fifty years ago, the sexually transmitted infection was nearly eliminated, thanks to a massive Communist-led crackdown on prostitution and a major treatment campaign. But since China began its opening and reform thirty years ago, the world's oldest profession has made a comeback, and so has syphilis.

In addition to female sex workers, men who have sex with men are also at a higher risk for syphilis. The report says that these two groups 'disproportionately bear the burden of the Chinese syphilis epidemic, in part because unsafe sexual practices in these populations are driving the rate of infection and in part because the stigma attached to their sexual behaviors discourages them from obtaining needed care.'

Meanwhile, the social stigma associated with sexually transmitted disease creates an obstacle to wider screening and treatment for syphilis. Left untreated, syphilis can damage the brain, heart and other organs and lead to death. And although health authorities in China have taken some measures to improve screening and treatment for the illness, the report's authors conclude that there is still greater need for public recognition of the growing public health problem and more government funding to tackle it.

【中文譯文】

上週發佈的一份最新報告顯示，2008年，中國每小時至少有一名先天性梅毒患兒出生，一年下來就有接近9,500個新病例，是五年前的12倍。

這是一個危險信號，說明梅毒正在中國死灰復燃。這篇發表在《新英格蘭醫學雜誌》(The New England Journal of Medicine)上的報告說，自從青黴素普遍使用以來，還沒有哪個國家的梅毒發病率出現瞭如此大幅度的增長。（梅毒是一種細菌感染，從上世紀40年代開始，人們普遍使用青黴素來治療梅毒，效果不錯。）在上海，梅毒已成爲最常見的傳染病。

梅毒在中國的蔓延被形容爲一場“重大災難”，人們認爲它是中國經濟迅速發展的結果。50年前，由於中國在共產黨領導下展開了一場聲勢浩大的禁止賣淫運動，並進行了大規模的治療，這種通過性行爲進行傳播的疾病已近消聲匿跡。但自從三十年前中國開始改革開放後，賣淫這項世界上最古老的職業捲土重來，梅毒也隨之蔓延。

除女性性工作者外，男性間性接觸感染梅毒的風險也很高。報告稱，這兩類羣體是中國梅毒傳播的最主要渠道，比例非常之高，部分原因是這類人羣不安全的性行爲推高了感染機率，另有部分原因是該病與不檢點性行爲的聯繫使他們羞於尋求應有的治療。

同時，這一疾病通過不良性行爲傳播的這一社會觀點也爲對梅毒進行更廣泛的診斷與治療帶來困難。而若不及時治療，任由其發展，這種病會損傷大腦、心臟及其它身體器官，並導致死亡。該報道的作者最後指出，儘管中國的醫療權威機構已採取了部分措施來改善這種疾病的診斷與治療，但公衆對於這個越來越危及公共健康問題的疾病的意識需增強，而政府也需要增加解決這一問題的資金。