Flu Study

流感大研究

Activity 1

Before you read, match the word or phrase to a definition.

1. come into contact 5. symptom 2. develop (an illness) 6. transmit (an illness) 3. mask 7. virus 4. sneeze 8. volunteer

a. feeling or problem that shows that you are not well

b. someone who offers to work or do something without getting paid

c. something which covers the face to protect it

d. pass a disease from one person to another

e. when two things are very close or touch

f. something very small that enters your body and makes you ill

g. when air comes out your nose and mouth quickly and suddenly, for example when you have a cold

h. start to suffer from

Each year there are at least five million people around the world who develop serious flu, and almost half a million deaths. When someone we know gets the flu virus, we expect themto be very careful not to pass it on to others. Doctors and nurses working with flu patients also need to protect themselves from the virus. But what is the best way to do this? This is the question that flu expert Professor Jonathan Van-Tam at Nottingham University is trying to answer. He wants to find out how flu is transmitted, so that he can stop doctors and nurses getting sick.

A Scientific Study 科学研究项目

Since 2008, Van-Tam has been in charge of an international group studying how the flu virus travels. For the first time, 41 volunteers agreed to live together, like in the TV programme Big Brother. They lived in a clinic in Cambridgeshire for two weeks, where they came into contact with the flu virus. The scientists wanted to see if the virus is transmitted when people cough and sneeze, or in other ways.

Van-Tam explains their method, “Fit and healthy volunteers are given the flu virus via drops in their nose. When they show symptoms, other volunteers (we call themrecipients[接受者]) enter the house. Everyone lives together in the small space for four days. Some of the recipients wear face masks, and wash their hands every 15 minutes, but some have no protection. In this way we can study who catches the flu and which ways of transmitting flu are important.”

During the four days when they are in contact with the virus, and for the ten days after that, the flu recipients are checked regularly. The scientists make sure that everyone spends the right amount of time doing things together. And the volunteers are not allowed to drink alcohol, smoke or do exercise, to make sure the results are not changed.

Protecting Hospital Workers 保护医护人员

The experiment is not simple and it is very expensive. It is difficult to design correctly, and it is also difficult to plan and carry out. Just one study like this takes about 18 months to organise and needs hundreds of people working on it. At the moment the team is working on three of these studies.

Van-Tam believes that if this type of study works well it can be used to study many other questions about how flu is transmitted. The results will help to decide what type of protection is needed for people working in hospitals with large numbers of flu patients around the world. And perhaps it could reduce the number of deaths from flu each year.

Activity 2

Decide if the statements are true or false, according to the text. Correct the false ones.

1. Nearly 500,000 people die of flu each year around the world.

2. For this flu study, volunteers offered to go on the Big Brother TV programme.

3. Not all of the volunteers wash their hands during the study.

4. This type of study lasts for 18 months.

5. The results of the study will be used to decide who can work in hospitals with flu patients.

Activity 3

When we talk about how long something has been happening, we can useforandsince.

We useforwith a period of time, e.g. one week, three hours, a while.

We usesincewith a point in time, e.g. last week, Monday, 1977, three o’clock.

Complete each sentence usingfororsince.

Example:(Since) 2008, Van-Tam has been in charge of an international group investigating the flu virus.

1. I haven’t seen Jerry ( ) months! He is obviously very busy.

2. I haven’t been very well ( ) I moved to the city centre—the air quality is so bad.

3. She has been studying biology ( ) three years now, but she doesn’t enjoy it very much.

4. Victoria was angry because she was waiting for David ( ) over forty minutes.

5. ( ) Pilar moved to the UK, her English has improved a lot.

Activity 4

Free Discussion

What do you t h i n k a r e t h e best ways to stay healthy? What do you do to feel better when you have a cold or flu?