[ABC] HEALTH THREAT: KISSING BUG DISEASE

[charliek]

HEALTH THREAT: KISSING BUG DISEASE

DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(OC): And, you may have seen a headline today about your health that has [1]created a lot of interest, a lot of concern and confusion, an article in a leading medical journal about a little known disease caused by a small insect.  [2]The journal compared it to the new HIV, AIDS.  It's called Chagas disease, and there are [3]300,000 known infections here in the US but what is the real risk for everyone else?  We asked ABC's medical editor Dr Richard Besser for a reality check.

DOCTOR RICHARD BESSER (ABC NEWS)(VO): The alarming headline, a frightening, mysterious disease, but not here.  The disease is called Chagas.  [4]You get it from this tiny parasite, carried by a one-inch long bug, sometimes called a kissing bug, because it likes to bite you near the mouth.  If it bites you near your eyes, they'll [5]turn puffy, a warning sign.

DOCTOR RICHARD BESSER (ABC NEWS)(VO): But all too often, [6]there's no sign you've been infected.  For decades, it can [7]lie dormant in your body until suddenly, destroying your heart.  In Latin America, [8]it infects the destitute.  Living in [9]homes with mud walls and thatched roofs, where the bug is mostly found.  In the US, those infected [10]are immigrants who pick it up in their home countries, but [11]a big reality check.

DOCTOR RICHARD BESSER (ABC NEWS)(VO): Despite comparisons to HIV, you can't get Chagas from another person, period.  And the kissing bugs in America are a different kind of bug.

DOCTOR RICHARD BESSER (ABC NEWS)(OC): You know, Chagas is a disease that needs treatment and attention.  Those people in America who already have it have to be diagnosed and taken care of.  But the real fight against [12]this tropical disease is in Latin America where it is really [13]running rampant.

DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(OC): And you track diseases, we should tell everybody, for [14]the CDC.  Tell us, again, about this bug in North America?

DOCTOR RICHARD BESSER (ABC NEWS)(OC): That's right.  You know, I spent years at the CDC, [15]tracking infections.  And [16]the disease detectives need to keep their eye on this.  But this particular bug and the way it spreads infections is only found in Latin America, not here in America.

DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(OC): Okay, we saw a lot of alarm today when people read that headline.

DOCTOR RICHARD BESSER (ABC NEWS)(OC): That's right.

DIANE SAWYER (ABC NEWS)(OC): Thanks so much, Rich.

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[1] 많은 관심과 우려와 혼란을 유발했다

[2] 그 저널은 그 병을 제2의 AIDS라고 했다

[3] 30만 건의 확인된 감염 사례

[4] 1인치 크기 정도의 벌레가 갖고 있는 이 아주 작은 기생충에게서 걸린다

[5] 붓게 되다

[6] 감염 징후가 전혀 없다

[7] 잠복하다

[8] 극빈층들이 감염된다

[9] 흙벽과 볏 지붕으로 된 집

[10] 원래 온 나라에서 걸려서 온 이민자들이다

[11] 사실 확인

[12] 이 열대성 질병

[13] 만연하다

[14] 질병통제예방센터(The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

[15] 감염 사례들의 경로를 추적하다

[16] 이 질병 관리 당국