2004-12-27
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VOICE ONE:
This is Science in the News, in VOA Special English. I'm Faith
Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
 |
| SARS has become a major international health concern. |
And I'm Bob Doughty. This week, we
look back at the major science stories of two-thousand-four. We look
at safety questions about some popular medicines and struggles
against SARS, bird flu and other diseases.
VOICE ONE:
We also tell about the bones of small human-like creatures found
in Indonesia. But first, a look at the powerful tsunami Sunday that
killed tens of thousands of people.
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VOICE ONE:
People in many countries are recovering from the effects of a
powerful earthquake Sunday in the Indian Ocean. The underwater
earthquake created huge waves that struck coastal areas from
Indonesia to Somalia. The earthquake caused a series of huge,
destructive ocean waves, also called a tsunami.
In the Japanese language, the word tsunami means "harbor wave."
Earthquakes are a major cause of tsunamis. But landslides on the
ocean floor also can cause huge ocean waves. Other causes are
exploding volcanoes and even explosions.
Experts say a tsunami can travel as fast as seven hundred twenty
five kilometers an hour. And, the waves can be more than thirty
meters high as they move toward land.
VOICE TWO:
Tsunamis can form near the center of an earthquake and travel out
in all directions. This means they can affect countries thousands of
kilometers from each other.
Tsunamis are most common in the Pacific Ocean. Japan has had the
most tsunamis. In the past hundreds of years, one hundred thousand
people have been killed by tsunamis in Japan. Six years ago, more
than two thousand people died when a tsunami struck Papua New
Guinea.
American scientists say the earthquake in the Indian Ocean Sunday
reached nine-point-zero on the Richter system of earthquake
measurement. They say it also was the fifth strongest earthquake
measured since nineteen-hundred.
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VOICE ONE:
Another major story of two-thousand-four was the progress being
made against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. SARS is a kind of
lung infection. It may cause higher than normal body temperature.
Patients have difficulty breathing. Their body wastes become soft
and watery.
SARS is caused by a coronavirus. Some members of the coronavirus
family can cause the common cold.
The first case of SARS was reported in southern China two years
ago. Since then, the disease has infected eight-thousand people in
almost thirty countries. It killed more than seven hundred seventy
of them.
VOICE TWO:
Research scientists in several countries are attempting to
develop medicines to prevent SARS. This month, Chinese researchers
reported success in the first human test of a preventative vaccine
for the disease.
The test involved thirty-six healthy people. Half received a
small amount of experimental SARS inactivated vaccine. The others
received a stronger version of the medicine. The researchers said
all thirty-six people produced antibodies for fighting the disease.
Those taking the vaccine suffered minor side effects, such as a
higher than normal temperature.
Chinese media say at least ten different kinds of SARS vaccines
are being developed. In the United States, tests of an experimental
vaccine have begun at the National Institutes of Health, near
Washington, D.C.
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VOICE ONE:
Another medical story this year involved a virus experts say is
more deadly than SARS. It is bird flu. This year, the bird flu virus
killed at least thirty-two people in Thailand and Vietnam. The World
Health Organization says that almost all the victims got the bird
flu from infected chickens. Millions of chickens and other birds
have been destroyed across Asia to prevent the disease from
spreading.
Health experts fear the bird flu virus will change into a kind
that can move from person to person and spread throughout the world.
Recently, a W.H.O. official warned that the virus could infect up to
thirty percent of the human population. Shigeru Omi also said bird
flu could kill between two million and seven million people. He
noted that some experts believe that up to fifty million people
could die.
VOICE TWO:
This month, the World Health Organization held a meeting to
discuss efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent infection by the
bird flu virus. Health officials from around the world met in
Switzerland. They said experts are concerned about the recent
appearance of the virus and infection rates. They warned of a
possible pandemic. A pandemic is when a disease spreads around the
world.
Scientists are developing two vaccines based on the current bird
flu virus in Asia. Testing both of these within a year will cost
about thirteen million dollars each.
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VOICE ONE:
Another major story is one of the biggest health threats of all.
The United Nations reports that about thirty-nine million people
around the world are living with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS.
That is up from almost thirty seven million two years ago.
This year, about three million people died of causes linked to
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. Five million became infected.
These numbers are the highest yet.
Southern Africa remains the most severely affected area. More
than sixty percent of all people with H.I.V. live there. The islands
of the Caribbean Sea have the next highest rate.
VOICE TWO:
Almost half of all people infected with H.I.V. are women and
girls. And, the virus is spreading faster among women than men in
most areas. U-N officials say East Asia has the sharpest increase in
the number of women infected with H.I.V. in the past two years.
AIDS experts say women are at greater risk because it is
physically easier for the female body to become infected during sex.
They also say many women cannot demand that their partners use
protection. And marriage is no protection if the husband has had sex
with someone who is infected. These reasons often combine with
sexual violence, a lack of money or education for women.
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VOICE ONE:
Another story this year was the discovery of ancient bones in
Indonesia. The bones were found last year in a cave on the island of
Flores.
A team of Australian and Indonesian scientists reported the
discovery in October. The scientists say the bones represent a new
kind of human-like creature. They say the creatures stood just less
than one meter tall and lived as recently as twelve thousand years
ago.
Some experts said the discovery could change the known history of
human beings on earth.
VOICE TWO:
Recently, an Indonesian scientist, Teuku Jacob, borrowed most of
the bones for study. He says the bones came from human beings with
small bodies, not a new creature.
Indonesians had been searching in the Flores area in the nineteen
seventies, but stopped their work because of a lack of money. Now,
Australian scientists who found the bones fear the Indonesians will
keep them and limit who can study them in the future.
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VOICE ONE:
Another story this year was the withdrawal of the pain medicine
Vioxx. The United States Food and Drug Administration approved Vioxx
five years ago. But in September, Merck and Company stopped selling
it following a long-term study. The study suggested that people who
used Vioxx had an increased chance of heart attacks and strokes.
One recent study found that Vioxx users were nearly three times
more likely to suffer a heart attack than people taking a similar
drug called Celebrex. America's National Cancer Institute stopped
another study this month because Celebrex was found to increase the
risk of heart attack. And, a separate study raised safety questions
about the pain medicine naproxen, sold as Aleve.
The United States Food and Drug Administration says it is too
early to say what action might be taken on Celebrex and Alleve. The
agency can legally remove, or recall, a harmful product from the
marketplace. Or a company can withdraw its product.
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VOICE TWO:
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Bob
Doughty.
VOICE ONE:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news
about science in Special English on the Voice of America.