西非埃博拉疫情蔓延似在趨緩

The World Health Organisation has for the first time expressed “cautious optimism” that the growth in new Ebola cases in west Africa may be slowing down.

世界衛生組織(WHO)首次對西非埃博拉(Ebola)疫情表達了“謹慎的樂觀”，稱該地區新病例增速或許正在放緩。

Bruce Aylward, who is in charge of the WHO response to Ebola, said in Geneva he was particularly encouraged by evidence of a downward trend in Liberia, one of the three worst-affected countries.

世衛組織埃博拉應對行動的負責人布魯斯•艾爾沃德(Bruce Aylward)在日內瓦表示，他尤其對利比里亞新病例增速的下行趨勢感到鼓舞。利比里亞是埃博拉疫情最嚴重的三個國家之一。

The WHO’s official total number of Ebola cases has reached 13,703 – a big jump from the 10,141 cases it reported four days ago. But Dr Aylward said that was mainly the result of the data being updated with old cases, rather than new cases arising.

世衛組織官方公佈的埃博拉病例總數已達13703例，與4天前公佈的10141例相比出現了大幅增長。但艾爾沃德表示，這主要是因爲更新了一些舊病例的數據，而不是新病例增加的結果。

“Do we feel confident that the response is now getting an upper hand on the virus? Yes, we are seeing a slowing rate of new cases, very definitely,” Dr Aylward said.

“我們是否確信抗擊病毒的行動正在佔據上風？是的，我們觀察到新病例增長速率正在放緩，非常肯定，”艾爾沃德表示。

However, Dr Aylward also urged people not to celebrate prematurely over any apparent downturn in the epidemic. “I’m terrified that the information will be misinterpreted and people will think Ebola is under control,” he said.

然而，艾爾沃德敦促人們不要過早地慶祝任何疫情蔓延放緩的跡象。“我很害怕信息遭到誤讀，人們會認爲埃博拉已經得到控制，”他說。

Any let-up in the battle against the virus might lead to “an oscillating pattern where the disease moves up and down”.

在對抗埃博拉的戰鬥中，任何放鬆攻勢的行爲都可能導致“疫情出現起伏波動”。

The improvement in Liberia seems to be due to a combination of more treatment facilities, better contact tracing and safer burial practices, together leading to fewer new infections from Ebola patients.

利比里亞的疫情得到改善，似乎是增加治療設備、更好地追蹤接觸者以及遵循更安全的埋葬方法的共同作用，這使因接觸埃博拉病患而感染的新病例減少了。

In Sierra Leone the number of cases continues to increase in some areas. “We’re still seeing this thing burning quite hot in parts of Sierra Leone,” Dr Aylward said

在塞拉利昂，某些地區的病例數量持續上升。“我們觀察到，埃博拉仍然在塞拉利昂的部分地區肆虐，”艾爾沃德說。

Tracing the progress of individual patients, the WHO estimates an overall mortality rate of 70 per cent, though people who receive treatment in a well-equipped clinic are slightly less likely to die. The WHO plans to set up 56 Ebola clinics with 4,700 beds in west Africa. Of these 15 clinics with 1,050 beds are already operational and another 22 ­clinics are expected to open during November.

通過追蹤病患的情況，世衛組織估測，感染埃博拉病患的總體死亡率爲70%，不過在設施完備的診所接受治療的患者死亡率稍低。世衛組織計劃在西非設立56家埃博拉診所，總共配備4700個牀位。其中，配備了1050個牀位的15家診所已經開始運營，另有22家診所有望在11月投入使用。

Meanwhile, two former Nato secretaries-general and dozens of leading European politicians have urged the alliance to dispatch troops, aircraft and ships to west Africa to help contain the Ebola crisis.

與此同時，兩位北約(Nato)前祕書長和幾十名歐洲政治領袖已經敦促北約向西非派遣軍隊、飛機和艦船以幫助遏制埃博拉危機。