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International health experts have agreed on a new definition of what it means for a disease to spread "through the air.
国际卫生专家就疾病“空气传播”的新定义达成了一致。
The agreement came after the World Health Organization (WHO) cooperated with hundreds of international health experts to explain or clarify the meaning.
在世界卫生组织(WHO)与数百名国际卫生专家合作解释或澄清这一含义后，达成了这项协议。
The WHO said the technical document it issued was the first step towards finding better methods to prevent airborne disease spread.
世卫组织表示，它发布的这份技术文件迈出了找到更好的方法防止空气传播疾病传播的第一步。
The document says the term "through the air" can be used for infectious diseases in which the main spread involves a pathogen traveling through the air or being suspended in the air.
该文件说，“通过空气传播”这一术语可用于传染病，即主要传播的病原体通过空气传播或悬浮在空气中。
The experts said this is similar to the official description of "waterborne" diseases.
专家表示，这类似于官方对“水传播”疾病的描述。
The WHO's new explanation is an effort to avoid public misunderstandings about how some diseases can be passed through the air or are "airborne."
世界卫生组织的新解释是为了避免公众对某些疾病如何通过空气进行传播，即“空气传播”产生误解。
Such misunderstandings happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
在新冠肺炎大流行期间，这种误解开始盛行。
The WHO was criticized by many scientists during the early days of COVID-19 in 2020.
在2020年新冠肺炎爆发的早期，世界卫生组织受到了许多科学家的批评。
They accused the U.N.Health agency of failing to warn the public early on that the virus could spread through the air.
他们指责联合国卫生机构未能及早警告公众病毒可能通过空气传播。
The scientists said this led to too much public guidance centered on handwashing and similar measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
科学家表示，这导致了太多以洗手和类似措施为中心来预防新冠病毒传播的公共指导。
They said this guidance ignored other measures, such as looking at the spread of viruses through ventilation systems.
他们说，这一指导忽略了其他措施，例如通过查看通风系统来观察病毒传播的情况。
By July 2020, the agency said there was "evidence emerging" of airborne spread.
该机构表示，到2020年7月，出现了空气传播的“证据”。
Soumya Swaminathan was WHO chief scientist during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
苏米亚·斯瓦米纳坦在新冠肺炎大流行开始时是世卫组织的首席科学家。
Swaminathan began a process to agree on a new definition for airborne disease spread.
斯瓦米纳坦开始就空气传播疾病的新定义达成一致。
She later said she thinks the agency should have been more forceful in that message "much earlier."
她后来说，她认为该机构应该在“更早的时候”就发出更有力的信息。
Swaminathan's successor, Jeremy Farrar, recently told Reuters news agency the new definition was about more than COVID-19.
斯瓦米纳坦的继任者杰里米·法勒最近告诉路透社，新的定义不仅仅有关新冠肺炎。
He added that at the beginning of the pandemic there was a lack of available evidence.
他补充说，在大流行开始时，缺乏可用的证据。
He said experts including the WHO had acted in "good faith."
他说，包括世界卫生组织在内的专家都是本着“诚意”行事的。
At the same time, he headed the Wellcome Trust charity and advised the British government on COVID-19.
与此同时，他是惠康信托慈善机构的负责人，并在新冠肺炎上为英国政府提供建议。
Farrar said the new definition would permit discussions to begin about issues such as ventilation in different kinds of buildings including hospitals and schools.
法勒说，新的定义将允许开始讨论包括医院和学校在内的不同类型建筑的通风等问题。
He compared the issue to the realization that blood-borne viruses, like HIV or hepatitis B, could be spread by medics not wearing gloves.
他将这个问题比作意识到，艾滋病毒或乙肝等血液传播病毒可以通过不戴手套的医务人员传播。
"When I started out, medical students, nurses, doctors, none of us wore gloves to take blood," Farrar said.
法勒表示：“刚开始的时候，医科学生、护士、医生，我们都不戴手套采血。”
"Now it is unthinkable that you wouldn't wear gloves.
他补充道：“现在你不戴手套是不可想象的。
But that came because everyone agreed on what the issue was, they agreed on the terminology...
但这是因为每个人都对问题所在，对这一术语达成了一致...
[The change, in practice,] came later," he added.
(实际上，这一举措)发生的时间较晚。”
I'm Bryan Lynn.
我是布莱恩·林恩。
