US, China Cooperate on Disease Prevention in Quake Zone
美卫生部长访华助中国防止疫情

The U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt says the United States is helping China work to prevent the outbreak of infectious diseases following this week's massive earthquake.

美国卫生与公众服务部长莱维特说，美国正在帮助中国努力防止星期一发生大地震后爆发传染病疫情。

Secretary Leavitt is in China to discuss food and drug safety. The topic has recently been pushed to the forefront because of reports that tainted ingredients from China, used in the blood thinning drug heparin, led to the deaths of dozens of people in the United States and other countries.

莱维特部长访问中国，讨论食品和药品安全问题。这个问题最近已经成为当务之急，因为有报导说，从中国进口的受到污染的化学原料被用于生产血液稀释药物肝素，导致美国和其它国家几十名患者死亡。

Since Monday's earthquake, though, the secretary said Chinese officials he met with in Beijing and Shanghai this week had other, more urgent, things they wanted to discuss.

然而莱维特说，自从星期一中国发生大地震以来，他这个星期在北京和上海会晤的中国官员希望和他讨论另外一个更为紧迫的话题。

"I met with the Minister of Science and Technology today," said Leavitt. "He asked for some advice from people within our department on how to contain infectious disease, during the period following this kind of natural disaster. When the systems break down, infectious disease is one of the concerns that we all have."

他说：“我今天曾与中国科技部部长会晤。他向我们部的一些专家请教了在发生重大自然灾害之后如何遏制传染性疾病传播的建议。当正常的系统受到破坏之后，我们都会担心传染病问题。”

Leavitt said as the days pass after a disaster, local epidemics become increasing problems. He said the Chinese were especially interested in hearing how the U.S. government fought infectious diseases following Hurricane Katrina.

莱维特表示，在自然灾害发生后的若干天，地区性疫情的问题会越来越多。他说，中国特别感兴趣的是了解美国政府如何在卡特里娜飓风袭击之后防止发生流行病。

"We assembled the experts who have significant experience in that area, and this afternoon, we began the process of those consultations," Leavitt said.

他说：“我们挑选了在这个领域特别有经验的专家，今天下午，我们开始了咨询工作。”

The U.S. official praised the Chinese government's response to the disaster, saying it is clear to him that Beijing has mobilized all of its available resources.

美国官员赞扬中国政府对这场灾难做出的反应。莱维特说，在他看来，很明显北京已经动用了所有可用的资源。

On the issue of the tainted heparin, Leavitt said both U.S. and Chinese scientists agree that the questionable samples were contaminated. He said there is less agreement, though, on whether the adulterated elements actually caused the deaths.

关于肝素污染问题，莱维特说，美国和中国科学家一致认为，有问题的样本受到了污染。他说双方争议比较大的是，这种掺假的成分是否造成了人员死亡。