治療中心緊缺 利比里亞埃博拉患者家中慘死
MONROVIA, Liberia — The family of the sick man, who had endured Ebola’s telltale symptoms for six days, took him by taxi to treatment centers here in the capital twice, only to be turned back at the gate each time for lack of beds. He died at home, his arms thrashing violently and blood spewing out of his mouth, in front of his sons.
利比里亞蒙羅維亞——一名患病男子的家人兩次坐着出租車將他帶到這裏的治療中心，但每次都因爲缺少牀位而被擋在治療中心門口，而他已經連續六天出現感染埃博拉病毒的症狀。最終，這名男子死在家中，他的兒子們看到了他手臂狂舞、口吐鮮血的慘狀。
“We had to carry him home two times because they could do nothing for us,” said Eric Gweah, 25, as a team of body collectors came to retrieve the corpse of his father, Ofori Gweah, 62. “The only thing the government can do is come for bodies. They are killing us.”
“這兩次我們都得把他帶回家，因爲他們不能爲我們做什麼，”25歲的埃裏克·格威(Eric Gweah)說。“政府唯一能做的就是來收屍。他們正在殺死我們。”格威接受採訪時，一個收屍隊來到家中爲他62歲的父親奧福裏·格威(Ofori Gweah)收屍。So many Ebola victims are dying at home because of the severe shortage of treatment centers here in Monrovia, Liberia‘s capital, that they are infecting family members, neighbors and others in a ballooning circle of contagion.
由於利比里亞首都蒙羅維亞嚴重缺少治療中心，很多埃博拉患者正在家中慢慢死去，並去感染家人、鄰居，以及其他處於傳染範圍內的人，致使傳染範圍不斷擴展。
Only 18 percent of Ebola patients in Liberia are being cared for in hospitals, holding centers or other settings that reduce the risk of transmission by isolating them from the rest of the population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unless that rate reaches 70 percent, the center predicted this week, Ebola cases will keep soaring.
據美國疾病控制與預防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)透露，在利比里亞，只有18%的埃博拉病人在醫院、收容中心或其他將他們隔離以降低傳染風險的場所接受治療。該中心本週預測，除非這個比率達到70%，否則埃博拉病例將持續攀升。In its worst-case estimate, Liberia and Sierra Leone, two of the three West African nations hit hardest by the outbreak, could face 1.4 million infections by Jan. 20 — more than 10 percent of their combined populations of about 10.3 million.
該中心預測的最糟糕的情況是，在埃博拉疫情最嚴重的三個西非國家中，利比里亞和塞拉利昂在明年1月20日前可能會出現140萬感染病例，高於兩國總人口（1030萬）的10%。In the coming weeks, the United States military will try to overhaul the fight against Ebola in Liberia, home to 1,580 of the 2,800 Ebola deaths so far recorded in West Africa. The 3,000-strong American mission will not treat Ebola patients, but will build as many as 17 treatment centers, with a total of 1,700 beds, and try to train 500 health workers a week.
迄今爲止，西非共有2800名埃博拉患者死亡，其中有1580人來自利比里亞。在未來幾周，美國軍隊將設法對利比里亞抗擊埃博拉疫情的鬥爭做出大幅調整。一個由3000名軍人組成的美國團隊不會參與埃博拉患者的治療工作，但他們將會建設多達17個治療中心，1700個牀位，並會設法每週培訓500名醫務人員。But building the centers is expected to take weeks and it is unclear who will run them, especially since the disease has decimated Liberia’s already weak health care system and the fear of Ebola has long kept many international aid workers away.
但建造治療中心需要數週時間，目前也不清楚治療中心由誰運營，尤其是因爲埃博拉已經摧毀了利比里亞原本就非常脆弱的醫療系統，而很多國際救援人員又害怕被感染，一直不願進入該國工作。“I’ve worked in many crises for more than 20 years, and it’s the first time I can see a situation that nobody wants to come,” said Jean-Pierre Veyrenche, who is heading the World Health Organization’s efforts to build treatment centers here. “There’s plenty of money, so that’s not the issue. If you look at Haiti, there were about 800 N.G.O.s there.”
“在20多年的時間裏，我經歷了很多危機，這是第一次看到沒人願意來的情況，”負責世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)蒙羅維亞治療中心項目的讓-皮埃爾·韋朗齊(Jean-Pierre Veyrenche)說。“我們有充足的資金，這不是問題。看看海地，那裏有大約800家非政府組織。”“People are afraid to come — that’s it,” he added.
他還表示，“人們不敢來，這是問題所在。”With treatment beds overflowing, the government is often left to simply pick up the bodies of the dead. As its six teams of body collectors crisscross this capital of 1.5 million people, navigating cratered streets left over from the 14-year civil war that ended in 2003, they encounter a city that is likely to remain at the mercy of Ebola for weeks, perhaps months.
由於治療中心牀位不足，政府通常只能收屍。六支收屍隊在這個擁有150萬人口的首都往返奔波，穿過那些在內戰期間變得坑坑窪窪的道路，他們看到的這個城市在未來幾周甚或幾個月，可能仍會受到埃博拉疫情的困擾。該國那場長達14年的內戰是在2003年終結的。Every day, each team retrieves half a dozen to a couple of dozen bodies, delivering them to a crematorium at the end of the day.
每支收屍隊每天會收走五、六具到二十幾具屍體，然後在當天晚上將屍體送往火葬場。The body collectors who came to pick up Mr. Gweah had descended to the compound where he lived four times in the past four weeks, down a steep cliff to a riverside area called Rockspring Valley. Each week, they had picked up a body that passed on the Ebola virus to the next person, and now Mr. Gweah’s was the fifth body. The crowd, seething beneath a sky of low clouds, erupted in anger.
前來收走格威屍體的收屍員在過去四周曾四次來到他所在的居住區，他們沿着陡峭山崖向下來到這個名爲石泉谷(Rockspring Valley)的沿江地區。他們每週都會收走一具屍體，而逝者已將埃博拉病毒傳染給下一個人，格威是他們在這裏收走的第五具屍體。在雲層低垂的天空下，激動的人羣爆發憤怒情緒。“If the government can’t work it out, let them give it up,” said Marvin Gweah, 28, another son. “Let the international community handle this.”
“如果政府不能應付，就讓他們放棄，”另一個兒子、28歲的馬爾溫·格威(Marvin Gweah)說。“讓國際社會來處理。”Five body collectors in full protective suits clambered up the cliff in the rain, carrying his father’s body in a black plastic bag, resting to readjust their grip, and steadying themselves on the slippery path. Eric Gweah, his face twisted in anguish, led the way, shrieking “Papa” and throwing his hands up in the air, nearly losing his footing.
天下着雨，身着全套防護服的五名收屍員爬上山崖，擡着裝在黑色塑料袋裏的他父親的遺體。他們有時會停下來喘口氣，在溼滑的道路上穩住腳步。埃裏克·格威的臉因痛苦而扭曲，他走在隊伍的最前面，口中高呼“爸爸呀”，雙手舉起，差點摔倒。“Stand up! Stand up!” a woman following the body collectors shouted at another woman who had fainted. A cacophony of wailing and sobbing rose as all of Rockspring Valley below seemed to sway in grief.
“站起來！站起來！”跟在收屍員身後的一名婦女朝着暈倒的另一女性吼道。刺耳的哭喊聲和啜泣聲響成一片，此時腳下的整座石泉谷似乎都已陷入悲傷之中。A new 120-bed treatment center, Island Clinic, operated by Liberian health workers under the W.H.O., opened here on Sunday, bringing Liberia’s total beds to 450. The agency is hoping to open two additional centers with a total of 400 beds here in the capital over the next month, but is unable to find international workers to operate them, said Mr. Veyrenche, who is heading the W.H.O.’s efforts to build treatment centers here.
在世衛組織的指導下，利比里亞醫療工作者管理的島嶼診所(Island Clinic)週日開始在蒙羅維亞迎接病患。這座新醫療中心有120個牀位，從而將利比里亞的總牀位數增至450張。世衛組織希望，一個月內能在首都地區再開兩座醫療中心，共計400張牀位。不過，負責在利比里亞興建醫療中心的世衛組織官員韋朗齊表示，無法找到國際人員來接手這些診所的運轉工作。Last week in Bong County, in central Liberia, the International Medical Corps began operating a treatment center built by Save the Children. The Medical Corps and Doctors Without Borders are the only international organizations operating treatment centers in Liberia.
在利比里亞中部的邦縣，上週，國際醫療隊(International Medical Corps)開始掌管救助兒童會(Save the Children)興建的一座醫療中心。國際醫療隊和無國界醫生組織(Doctors Without Borders)是僅有的兩個在利比里亞運營診療中心的國際組織。Sean Casey, the leader of the Medical Corps in Liberia, said he hoped to increase the center’s current capacity of 10 beds to 70 beds over the next six weeks. But because of the fear of Ebola and the time commitment required of foreign volunteers, the organization has been unable to draw doctors and nurses from its usual pool, he said. The organization is recruiting health workers for the first time in the Philippines, Jordan and Ethiopia.
國際醫療隊利比里亞項目的負責人肖恩·卡塞伊(Sean Casey)稱，他希望在未來的六週裏將這家診所目前的10張牀位增加到70張。然而他說，出於對埃博拉的恐懼，以及外國志願者需要在當地耗費的時長，國際醫療隊一直無法從往常的醫護人員庫中找到足夠的志願者。該組織正在從菲律賓、約旦和埃塞俄比亞招募醫護人員，此舉尚屬首次。Like most experts here, Mr. Casey was skeptical of the American military’s plans to find and train 500 health workers a week.
與身處這裏的多數專家一樣，卡塞伊對美國軍方提出的每週招到並培訓500名醫療工作者的計劃心存疑慮。“It took us a few weeks to just open 10 beds,” he said. “It worries me that some of their facilities will be open before they’re ready.”
“就連弄出這10張牀位，我們都花了好幾星期，”他說。“我擔心他們的一些中心會在沒有準備好的情況下啓動。”Here in Monrovia, the first city to face Ebola’s full onslaught since the virus was discovered in 1976, entire families are dying at home, unable to get a ride in one of the city’s few ambulances or gain admission to overcrowded treatment or holding centers.
自從1976年發現埃博拉病毒以來，蒙羅維亞是第一座要面對它的全面爆發的城市。這裏的整戶人家在自己家中死亡，無法搭上城裏稀缺的救護車，或是進入過於擁擠的醫療和收容中心。“We came here for the husband last week, we’re back today for the wife, and maybe next week we’ll be back for the children,” said Alexander Nyanti, 23, a body collector who was picking up the corpse of Lorpu David, 30, in a central Monrovia neighborhood off Gurley Street.
“我們上個星期來給丈夫收殮，今天又來收妻子，說不定下個星期又要來收孩子，”23歲的收屍員亞歷山大·尼安蒂(Alexander Nyanti)說。他來到蒙羅維亞市中心格利街附近的這片社區，是爲了給30歲的洛普·戴維(Lorpu David)收殮。A week earlier, his team had visited the same house to retrieve the body of her husband, Sam David, the first Ebola death in that community. The couple shared one room with their two children and the wife’s younger sister.
一週前，尼安蒂所在的收屍隊來過同一間屋子給丈夫薩姆·戴維(Sam David)收殮。他是這片社區裏首名死於埃博拉病毒的患者。這對夫婦和兩個孩子及妻子的妹妹同住一間房。“The little boy is not feeling all right,” John Sackie, the community’s chairman, said as four collectors pulled Ms. David out of a dark room in the back of the house, each grasping a limb.
“小男孩不太舒服，”社區主任約翰·薩基(John Sackie)說。此時，四名收屍員分別抓着戴維夫人的四肢，將她的屍體從屋子後面一間昏暗的房間裏拖了出來。
