Q-Eng

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病気で使う日常語が多いので、確認や覚えるのによいでしょう。
特に不快な画像はなく、重要単語が画面に出てきて、良くできた勉強向きの短編です。

難　　04分・・145wpm　　2014/12/26 新出　　

字幕：上の動画は開始後 で英語On/Off｡ 日本語選択､文字ｻｲｽﾞはｵﾌﾟｼｮﾝから｡
.　　　　　　　 （YouTubeは 日本語On/Off。 英語選択｡）

★下記英文はマウスオーバー辞書が使えます｡　　　　　　　 　　　　

In the summer of 1976, a mysterious epidemic（流行病） suddenly struck two central African towns, killing the majority of its victims. Medical researchers suspected the deadly Marburg virus（ﾏｰﾌﾞﾙｸﾞｳｲﾙｽ） to be the culprit（原因）. But what they saw in microscope images was an entirely new pathogen（病原体）, which would be named after the nearby Ebola river.
　（Marburg disease：マーブルグ病　エボラによく似たアフリカの病気）

Like yellow fever（黄熱病）or dengue（デング熱）, the disease caused by the Ebola virus is a severe type of hemorrhagic fever（出血熱）. It begins by attacking the immune（免疫の） system's cells and neutralizing its responses, allowing the virus to proliferate（増殖する）.

Starting anywhere from two to twenty days after contraction（病気にかかること）, initial symptoms like high temperature（高熱), aching（筋肉痛), and sore throat(咽頭痛)
resemble those of a typical flu, but quickly escalate to vomiting（嘔吐）, rashes（発疹）, and diarrhea（下痢）. And as the virus spreads, it invades the lymph nodes（ﾘﾝﾊﾟ節）and vital organs, such as kidneys（腎臓) and liver（肝臓), causing them to lose function.
　（contraction：収縮、短縮　がふつうの意味だが、病気にかかること　もある）

But the virus itself is not what kills Ebola victims. Instead, the mounting cell deaths trigger an immune system overload, known as a cytokine storm（ｻｲﾄｶｲﾝ・ｽﾄｰﾑ）,
an explosion of immune responses that damages blood vessels（血管）, causing both internal and external bleeding（出血）.
　（cytokine storm：サイトカイン・ストーム　過剰免疫反応）

The excessive fluid loss（体液喪失） and resulting complications（合併症） can be fatal within six to sixteen days of the first symptoms, though proper care and rehydration therapy（補水療法）can significantly reduce mortality rates（死亡率）in patients.

Fortunately, while Ebola is highly virulent（有毒な）, several factors limit its contagiousness(伝染性). Unlike viruses that proliferate through small airborne(風媒の)
particles, Ebola only exists in bodily fluids, such as saliva（唾液）, blood（血液）,
mucus（粘液）, vomit（吐瀉物）, or feces（排泄物）.

In order to spread, these must be transmitted from an infected person into another's body through passageways such as the eyes, mouth, or nose. And because the disease's severity increases directly along with the viral load（ウイルス量）, even an infected person is unlikely to be contagious until they have begun to show symptoms.

While Ebola has been shown to survive on surfaces for several hours, and transmission through sneezing（くしゃみ） or coughing（咳） is theoretically possible, virtually all known cases of contraction have been through direct contact with the severely ill, with the greatest risk posed to medical workers and friends or relatives of the victims.

This is why, despite its horrifying effects, Ebola has been far less deadly overall than more common infections（感染症）, such as measles（はしか）, malaria, or even influenza. Once an outbreak has been contained, the virus does not exist in the human population until the next outbreak begins.

But while this is undoubtedly a good thing, it also makes Ebola difficult to study. Scientists believe fruit bats（ｵｵｺｳﾓﾘ）to be its natural carriers, but just how it is transmitted to humans remains unknown. Furthermore, many of the countries where Ebola outbreaks occur suffer from poor infrastructure and sanitation, which enables the disease to spread. And the poverty of these regions, combined with the relatively low amount of overall cases means there is little economic incentive for drug companies to invest in research.

Though some experimental medicines have shown promise, and governments are funding development of a vaccine, as of 2014, the only widespread and effective solutions to an Ebola outbreak remain isolation（隔離）, sanitation（衛生）, and information（正しい情報）.