首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Many people today are worried about bird flu. They are afraid that it will pass from birds to humans and that thousands of peopl
Many people today are worried about bird flu. They are afraid that it will pass from birds to humans and that thousands of peopl
admin
2018-11-19
38
问题
Many people today are worried about bird flu. They are afraid that it will pass from birds to humans and that thousands of people will die in a pandemic. In 1918 a flu virus killed about 50 million people around the world. The virus was called Spanish influenza (or Spanish flu, for short)because Spanish newspapers first described the disease. Now, after nine years of work, scientists in an American laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia, have produced a copy of the Spanish flu virus. They are also going to publish the genetic sequence of the virus on the Internet and some experts are afraid that other laboratories could copy the virus.
Scientists have copied the virus because they want to understand why the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic killed so many people. In a report in the journal Science, Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger and a team of scientists in the USA show that the copied virus is extremely powerful. The scientists injected the virus into mice and the mice began to lose weight very quickly. They lost 13% of their weight in two days and all of the mice died within six days.
" I didn’ t expect it to be as lethal as it was, " Dr. Terrence Tumpey, one of the scientists in the team, told the journal Nature. In another experiment, they injected more mice with a normal type of flu. The mice lost weight at first but then they got better and did not die. The experiments showed that the mice with the Spanish flu virus had 39,000 times more flu virus in their bodies than the second group of mice.
The scientists who copied the virus say their work has already provided important information about the virus and helps to explain why it is so lethal. But other expels are worried that the virus could escape from the laboratory. " Some people will think that they have really created a biological weapon." said Professor Ronald Atlas of the University of Louisville in Kentucky. " I am even more worried now than I was before about the possibility of a flu pandemic. The 1918 flu pandemic started with bird flu and that might happen again today with Asian bird flu."
Some scientists are worried about the publication of the genetic sequence on the Internet. They are afraid that biologists could copy the virus using the information on the Internet. This could be very dangerous.
It took a long time to copy the virus. Scientists used material taken from the lungs of people who died from the flu virus in 1918. In a second report in Nature, Taubenberger and his colleagues analyzed the genetic make-up of the virus. They were surprised to find that it was completely different from all the normal human flu viruses. This probably means that Spanish flu jumped from birds to humans and did not mix with a human virus first. This is very worrying for scientists because in the past everyone believed that a pandemic was only possible if a bird flu virus mixed with a human flu virus.
Taubenberger says it is very important to know what changes in the virus caused the 1918 Spanish flu virus. This will help scientists to work out which viruses might cause a pandemic. The H5N1 bird flu in Asia is already changing and it could infect humans, he said.
Viruses have escaped from high-security labs before. The SARS virus escaped at least twice, once in Taiwan and once in Singapore, But some scientists believe a pandemic will not happen even if the virus escapes, because most people are naturally immune and there are now a lot of drugs which protect people from flu.
Questions 66—70
Answer the following questions according to the passage.
Where did the scientists produce a copy of the Spanish flu virus?
选项
答案
Atlanta.
解析
根据第一段内容可知,美国佐治亚州亚特兰大实验室的科学家制作了西班牙流感病毒的副本。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/UJNK777K
本试题收录于:
C类竞赛(非英语专业本科)题库大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)分类
0
C类竞赛(非英语专业本科)
大学生英语竞赛(NECCS)
相关试题推荐
InBritain,therearetwooccasionseachyearwhenpeopleusuallyreceivepresents:onChristmasDayandontheirbirthdays.In
Allowmetogiveyoualittleadviceaboutwriting【D1】______First,makeyourcharacters【D2】______Makesurethattheybehaveand
Allowmetogiveyoualittleadviceaboutwriting【D1】______First,makeyourcharacters【D2】______Makesurethattheybehaveand
"Home,sweethome"isaphrasethatexpressesanessentialattitudeintheUnitedStates.Whethertherealityoflifeinthefam
WhatshouldbethetimeonClockD?
Accordingtoexperts,companionshipandsocialsupportarevitaltobothourpsychologicalandphysicalwell-being—onereason,p
DictationListentothepassage.Forquestions21—25,fillintheblankswiththeexactwordsorphrasesyouhear.Whatdoyoud
DictationListentothepassage.Forquestions21—25,fillintheblankswiththeexactwordsorphrasesyouhear.Ifyou【D1】__
Connectthefollowing12dotsallusingonlyfivestraightlines,whichgothrougheverydotonlyonce.
Asthesupplyofgeneticallymodified(GM)foodincreases,manypeopleareunawarethatsomefoodtheyareeatingisaproductof
随机试题
P(polyhedosis)核病毒可以通过杀死吉卜赛蛾的幼虫从而有助于控制该蛾的数目。这种病毒一直存活于幼虫身上,但每隔六七年才能杀死大部分幼虫,从而大大降低吉卜赛蛾的数目。科学家们认为,这种通常处于潜伏状态的病毒,只有当幼虫受到生理上的压抑时才会被激活。
A.血清脂肪酶B.血清淀粉酶C.血尿素氮D.血清正铁白蛋白有助于发病较晚的急性胰腺炎诊断
确定道地药材的主要因素有哪些?
结核预防性化疗使用的药物是( )。
男,25岁,肝硬化腹水。近日来神志恍惚,答非所问,行为反常,呼吸中嗅到异味。该异昧可能的特点是
建设项目管理部门应在建设项目达到国家验收条件后,向国家发展和改革委员会申请国家验收,同时应提供的情况报告内容包括()。
在化学实验和日常生活中,大家都要有安全意识,否则可能会造成严重的后果,下列做法不存在安全隐患的是()。
【2014四川宜宾】“以教师为中心,以教材为中心,以课堂为中心”反映了()。
若在(一∞,+∞)内f(x)单调增加,g(x)单调减少,则f[g(x)]在(一∞,+∞)内().
[A]Analyzingyourowntaste[B]Beingcautiouswhenexperimenting[C]Findingamodeltofollow[D]Gettingthefinallookabsolute
最新回复
(
0
)