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Can Swine Flu Be Blamed on Industrial Farming?

Amidst the hubbub surrounding the current pandemic threat from swine flu,

an epidemiological mystery has been unfolding. Authorities have designated

Edgar Hernandez, a fiveyearold from La Gloria in the Mexican state of

Veracruz as "Patient Zero"at least he is the earliest case they have found

so far. Virologists have determined that the mutating flu is a combination

of several older flu strains, commonly associated with pigs. And La Gloria

is home to nearly a million pigs on a nearby factory farm。

So is socalled swine flu really just another environmental problem associated

with factory farming?

After all, such large operations keep the animals in close confinement, dope

them with antibiotics to keep them alive in the crowded conditions and create

目前猪流感大规模流行的威胁导致一片混乱，在这之中，一个有关流行病的秘密正在被解开。官方机构已经指明一名来自墨西哥Veracruz州La Gloria地区的名为Edgar Hernandez的5岁孩子是“首个猪流感病例”——至少到目前为止Edgar Hernandez是他们发现的最早病例。病毒学家已经测定，正在变异的流感病毒是几种通常与猪有关的老流感病毒的结合体。而在La Gloria地区，一个有近1百万头生猪的养殖场就在附近。 那么是不是所谓的猪流感真的仅仅不过是又一个与养殖场有关的环境问题呢？ 毕竟，这样大规模的养殖使得猪被关在狭小的空间里面，养殖者对它们还注射抗生素，以便使它们能在拥挤不堪和大量污秽的环境中存活下来。这些糟糕的环境为疾病的传播提供了绝佳的温床。 其它的一些健康威胁也已经在生猪养殖农场中显出苗头，比如具有耐抗性的金黄色葡萄球菌病毒的出现。 不过，这种H1N1病毒还没有在La Gloria附近的生猪养殖场中发现，目前也不清楚H1N1病毒是如何从养殖场传到小Edgar身上的。 不过，因为病毒学家们的不懈努力，有一点是清楚的：根据美国疾病控制中心(U.S. Centers for Disease Control)的报道，在上个世纪90年代H1N1流感病毒在美国的生猪农场中就出现了。也许这种病毒如何从猪身上传到人身上与农场养殖一点儿关系也没有，但是密集的动物饲养模式是有助于疾病繁殖的。 Some have linked the new strain of H1N1 to an industrial hog farm in Mexico 有人认为猪流感H1N1病毒的新变体与墨西哥一个工业化生猪养殖农场有关。 Can Swine Flu Be Blamed on Industrial Farming? Amidst the hubbub surrounding the current pandemic threat from swine flu, an epidemiological mystery has been unfolding. Authorities have designated Edgar Hernandez, a fiveyearold from La Gloria in the Mexican state of Veracruz as "Patient Zero"at least he is the earliest case they have found so far. Virologists have determined that the mutating flu is a combination of several older flu strains, commonly associated with pigs. And La Gloria is home to nearly a million pigs on a nearby factory farm。 So is socalled swine flu really just another environmental problem associated with factory farming? After all, such large operations keep the animals in close confinement, dope them with antibiotics to keep them alive in the crowded conditions and create vast pools and piles of wasteall good ways to promote the spread of any disease。 Other health threats, such as antibioticresistant strains of staphylococcus aureus, have emerged from pig farms as well。 Nevertheless, this H1N1 strain has not yet been found in the pigs near La Gloria, nor is it clear how it would have jumped from the factory farm to little Edgar。 But what is clear thanks to the hard work of virologists is that this particular strain of flu got its genetic start on U.S. hog farms back in the 1990s. That's according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. How the virus jumped from pigs to humans may have nothing to do with factory farms, but confined animal feeding operations helped to breed the disease。 Vocabulary: Strain：(疾病的)类型 Hog：猪 Swine Flu：猪流感 Amidst：在…之中 Hubbub：混乱；喧闹 Pandemic：大规模流行病 Epidemiological：流行病学的 Designate：指明；指派 Virologist：病毒学家 Determine：确定 Mutate:变异 Confinement: 局限 Dope: 用药 Antibiotics: 抗生素 Vast: 大量的 Resistant: 抵抗的 Staphylococcus aureus: 金黄色葡萄球菌 Genetic: 基因的 Breed: 孕育；导致；繁殖