近期英国方面的资料显示：

The number of people admitted to hospital with influenza¹ in the first week of 2018 was six times higher than during the same period last year.

今年第一个星期因为流感而住院的人数比去年同一时间段高六倍。

Some 758 people were hospitalized this year with confirmed flu cases, according to Public Health England. There were 110 during the same week in 2017.

英格兰公共卫生部收集到的资料显示，今年758个住院的人被确诊为流感，而去年2017年同一时间段则为110人。

There was also a rise in visits to general practitioners³ from people with flu-like illnesses, up from 18.8 per 100,000 people during the first week of last year, to 37.3 this year.

同时，在新年第一个星期，英国流感类似症状病患访问医生人数也大幅提升，从去年的每十万人中18.8人上升为今年的每十万人中37.3个人。

general practitioner²：全科医生

The number of people admitted to intensive care almost tripled, with 240 in the first week of this year compared to 84 in 2017.

而因感冒进入重病特别护理的人数也几乎为去年的三倍，2017年为84人，今年则是240人。

英国RCGP研究检测中心的医疗总监Simon De Lusignan说道：

“We can certainly say that last week… flu in England took off, crossing the medium threshold. However, given how uNPRedictable flu can be, it is impossible to speculate how this will progress moving forward – rates may increase further, they may level out, or even decline.”

“我们可以确定的是，流感在上个星期已经在英格兰蔓延开来，并且已经超过了中等严重性。不管怎么样，流感病毒的变化是无法预知的，想要去推测流感未来的趋势是不可能的，流感蔓延可能会越来越严重，维持一段时间，感染人数可能也会逐渐下降。”

英格兰公共卫生部门的医疗总监Paul Cosford说：

“We are currently seeing a mix of flu types, including the A(H3N2) strain that circulated last winter in the UK and then in Australia. The A(H3N2) strain particularly affects older, more vulnerable age groups.”

“我们现在遇到了多种流感病毒，它包括了H3N2病毒株，该病毒株出现在上个冬季的英国以及澳大利亚，需要注意的是，H3N2病毒株更容易感染老年人以及身体较差的人。”

虽然远在地球的另一端，但中国被流感感染的人数也在迅猛增加。

Like many places in China this winter, Beijing has been hit by one of the worst flu epidemics⁴ in recent years.

在这个冬季，就像中国其他地方一样，北京也正面临着在近些年来最糟糕的流感病情。

Beijing reported 9,548 cases in the first week of 2018, a rise of more than 21 percent compared to the previous week.

在北京现在已经有9548件感染病例，在新年的第一个星期，对比去年感染人数增多了百分之二十一。

Six clinical stations staffed by doctors are in place to treat children at China-Japan Friendship Hospital. Around 500 patients a day went to see doctors in the emergency departmentso far this winter, with more than 20,000 patients a month seeking some kind of treatment.

在这个冬季，北京中日友好医院的六个接诊室全部安排了医生为生病的孩子们看病。平均每天都有500人来到急诊部看医生。平均每月有超过2万病患来到急诊部求诊。

The number of reported flu cases in Beijing have started to increase at a slower rate and the spread of infection is predicted to lessen⁵ in the next two weeks, the Beijing commission of Health and Family Planning said on Monday.

北京卫生和计划生育委员会在星期一说到，尽管北京方面流感感染人数也在缓慢的增加着，但是可以预测的是该趋势会在接下来的两个星期内慢慢减少。

而在这种时期当然少不了大家最关心的疫苗问题了，很遗憾的是，尽管人类目前抗击流感病毒最有效的方法是接种疫苗，但是根据全球流感中心（World Influenza Centre）的信息，即使是最新的流感疫苗对于澳大利亚病毒也并非是最有效的。

值得庆幸的是英国一家生物科技公司正在着手进行一项可以治愈大部分类型的流感疫苗，甚至还得到了中国一家风险投资公司的青睐和注资。

全球每年死于流感的人接近65万，相信如果该疫苗能被研发出来，我们每年就可以不用对流感如临大敌般诚惶诚恐。

When viewed under a microscope, the flu virus resembles a studded sphere, or pin cushion. Existing flu vaccines⁷ use surface proteins that lie on the outside of flu virus – the pinheads – to stimulate⁸ the body’s immune system to produce disease-fighting antibodies. A new vaccine⁶ developed by Vacitech uses core proteins to stimulate an immune response. These core proteins remain virtually unchanged in most viruses that cause illness.

通过显微镜观察流感病毒的时候，流感病毒看起来像是一个布满颗粒的球体，又或者是针线包。现有的流感疫苗使用病毒表面的蛋白质（或者说其表面的针头）来促进我们身体的免疫力，使我们身体里的抗体和病毒对抗起来。而该科技公司正在着手研发的疫苗则是使用病毒的核心蛋白引起身体免疫反应。对于大部分引起疾病的病毒来说，这些核心蛋白几乎一直保持不变。

流感和感冒的区别

许多人以为自己得的只是感冒，甚至以为流感只是重感冒，但是其中的区别可大了。

英国NHS Choice的文章“感冒还是流感？”（Cold or Flu?）里提到:

Flu is not a “bad cold”. Each year, thousands of people die from complications after catching⁹ the flu.

流感并非是重感冒！每年都有成千上万的人死于流感引发的并发症。

Colds and flu share some of the same symptoms (cough, sore throat), but are caused by different viruses. The flu can be much more serious than a cold.

感冒和流感有部分症状很相似，例如，它们都会使人感到喉咙痛并且引起咳嗽等，但是因为他们是由不同的病毒引起的，流感引发的症状比感冒更加严重。

看到这大家是否都觉得一阵惊慌？别着急，如果你平常多运动并且关注自己的健康，流感不一定会是你的烦恼。

If you’re generally fit and healthy, you can usually manage the symptoms of a cold or flu yourself without seeing your general practitioner.

如果你自身的身体素质较好，那么即使你有流感或者感冒的症状，你也不用非得去看家庭医生。

尽管感冒和流感的症状很相似，但是流感的症状则更加严重。

Colds cause more nasal problems than flu. Fever, fatigue¹⁰ and muscle aches are more likely and more severe with flu.

相比流感，感冒更容易引起和鼻子相关的症状。而类似发烧，疲劳和肌肉酸疼等更严重的症状则更可能是流感引起的。

感冒和流感共有的症状（symptom）包括：

Blocked or runny nose, sore throat, headaches, cough, sneezing, pressure in your ears and face, loss of taste and smell, a high temperature or fever, muscle aches and pains, feeling exhausted¹¹ and needing to lie down.

鼻子堵塞和流清鼻涕、喉咙痛、头疼、咳嗽、打喷嚏、脸部及耳朵内有压力感、失去味觉和嗅觉、高烧、肌肉酸痛或感到疲劳需要躺下。

两者的区别在于：

A cold develops gradually over one or two days and you’re most contagious¹² during the early stages when you have a runny nose and sore throat. You should begin to feel better after a few days but some colds can last up to two weeks.

感冒需要一到两天来加重，在感冒初期，你极有可能会把感冒病毒传染给他人，特别是在你鼻子开始流鼻涕并感受到喉咙疼的时候。在这之后的几天你的感冒会渐渐好转，但是一些感冒可能会持续一到两个星期。

The flu usually comes on much more quickly than a cold, and symptoms appear one to three days after infection. You should begin to feel better within a week or so, but you may feel tired for much longer.

流感的症状一般会比感冒来的更快，感染后一到三天出现流感症状。在之后的一个星期内你应该会渐渐好转，但是流感带来的疲劳感会持续很长一段时间。

不管是感冒还是流感，当你有以下一种状况的时候你一定要就医（get medical help）：

have a chronic¹³ condition (such as asthma¹⁴, diabetes¹⁵ or heart disease);

有慢性病（如哮喘，糖尿病或者心脏病）；

Have a very high fever as well as an unusually severe headache or abdominal¹⁶ or chest pain.

高烧同时有严重的头痛或者感到腹部/胸痛。