Questões de Inglês

Global monkeypox outbreak was "waiting to happen"

by Emily Craig

25/5/2022

    Eradicating smallpox may have left the world vulnerable to monkeypox, experts have warned amid growing fears about the current outbreak sweeping the world.

    Britons were routinely offered smallpox Jabs until the 1970s, when the scheme was deemed no longer necessary because the virus had been beaten into submission. Similar programmes were wound down across the world at the same time.

    Scientists say the waning immunity from the mammoth inoculation campaigns may help explain why monkeypox outbreaks are becoming more common across the world.

    Although not purposefully made for monkeypox, the Imvanex jab — made by Danish-based Bavarian Nordic — is up to 85 per cent effective because the two viruses are so similar. Antivirals and therapies for smallpox also work for monkeypox.

    Dr Romulus Breban, a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, said the current global outbreak was 'waiting to happen¹ because of the world's 'almost zero' immunity levei. Nineteen countries have detected cases in the past month, which has sparked alarm because infections usually only occur in west and central África.

    Professor Neil Mabbott, an immunopathologist from the University of Edinburgh, told MailOnline over-50s are the only group protected against monkeypox. 'Although the levei of immunity will wane in time, smallpox vaccination provides long-lasting protection,' he said. 'Some estimates suggest this may last for decades.'

    There are signs that monkeypox was becoming more common even before the latest outbreak, with studies in África suggesting the rates increased 20-fold between the 1980s and mid-2000s.

    Experts believe larger populations and more interaction with infected animais are behind the rise.

    At least 221 monkeypox cases have been confirmed across the world since the first patient was sickened in the UK on May 6, with most infections among gay and bisexual men. The United Arab Emirates, Czech Republic and Slovenia are the latest countries to log infections.

    The Czech man showed symptoms of the disease after returning from a festival in Antwerp, Belgium in early May. Several monkeypox cases have since been linked with Darklands-a large-scale fetish festival, held from May 5-8.

    The UK Health Security Agency is contacting high-risk contacts of confirmed cases and advising them to self-isolate at home for three weeks and avoid contact with children.

    They are also being offered the Imvanex vaccine.

    This strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring anyone around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of the disease.

    But the winding down of the campaign, which also kept monkeypox under control, has left unjabbed Britons exposed to the virus.

    As the proportion of the UK population with immunity against monkeypox has declined, it has theoretically given the virus room to circulate and be transmitted easier.

    Dr Breban told the Guardian: 'This outbreak was really waiting to happen. Our immunity levei is almost zero. People aged 50 and above are likely to be immune but the rest of us not, so we are very, very susceptible.'

    In a paper published in the journal Bulletin of the World Health Organization in September 2020, Dr Breban and colleagues warned monkeypox 'is an emerging infectious disease for which outbreak frequency and expected outbreak size in human populations have steadily increased'.

    The team pinpointed the spread of cases beyond west and central África as a pattern fuelled by the decline in immunity against orthopox viruses, a family of viruses that also includes smallpox and monkeypox, due to the end of the vaccination scheme.

(...)

Source: Daily Mail (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10849635/Global-monkeypox-outbreak-wa iting-happen-scientists-say.html)

Leia este texto para responder as questão. de Inglês.

PARENTS SHOULD LET KIDS LIVE LIKE THE CHARACTERS ON STRANGER THINGS

Lenore Skenazy

The Netflix hit Stranger Things stars a bizarre, otherworldly species. And no, I‘m not talking about Demogorgons or demon birds. I‘m talking about kids who ride bikes, solve problems, and fight monsters — all without their moms. Why aren‘t El, Will, Max, Dustin, Lucas and Mike ever seen in a minivan on their way to soccer? What kind of parent lets their kids battle evil without a phone for emergencies? And, dear God, where are their bike helmets?

Fast forward to 2022. A survey this month found that just 10% of American parents with kids aged 7 to 9 ever let them stay home by themselves, and almost one in five said they wouldn‘t even let their teens do that. In fact, the survey of 2,500 American parents commissioned by SafeHome.org revealed that parents don‘t feel comfortable letting their kids walk to school, ride their bike to a friend‘s place, or play in a park unsupervised until they are at least 12 years old.

The fact is, ever since the ‘80s, parents have been putting their children on an increasingly tight leash, possibly sparked by the photos of missing children printed on milk cartons (without any acknowledgement that most missing kids are runaways or taken in divorce custody disputes). These sad portraits created an obsession with child abduction to the point where today‘s parents don‘t think their kids should be allowed to play unsupervised in their own front yard till age 10, according to a 2014 Rupe-Reason survey.

In other words, America trusted kids‘ stamina, smarts, maturity and responsibility — which, in turn, allowed them to build those qualities. Today‘s parents believe there are a few things kids should be exposed to at a young age. According to the survey, children should be able to have their own digital tablet at age 8. No wonder today‘s kids are so anxious and depressed! Between just 2013 and 2017, the percent of pediatric patients with an anxiety diagnosis more than doubled, an AthenaHealth study found, while the number of teens experiencing depression increased 59% from 2007 to 2017, according to the Pew Research Center.

Psychologists say that avoiding something out of fear gives it even more power to scare us. That means the more parents protect their kids from everyday childhood activities, like walking to school, or staying home alone for a bit, the more those activities become terrifying to both generations. The Stranger Things gang — Will, Lucas, Dustin, Max and the rest — embody the '80s ethos of letting kids do things on their own, while today's culture of constant adult supervision is stunting kids' competence.

Fonte: Disponível em:https://nypost.com/2022/07/16/parents-should-let-kids-live-like-stranger-things-characters/Acesso: 20 Jul 2022. (Adaptado).

Leia este texto para responder as questão de Inglês.

WHAT IS A BUTTERFLY?

    Butterflies are the adult flying stage of certain insects belonging to an order or group called Lepidoptera. Moths also belong to this group. The word "Lepidoptera" means "scaly wings" in Greek. This name perfectly suits the insects in this group because their wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales overlapping in rows. The scales, which are arranged in colorful designs unique to each species, are what gives the butterfly its beauty. Like all other insects, butterflies have six legs and three main body parts: head, thorax (chest or mid-section) and abdomen (tail end). They also have two antennae and an exoskeleton.

    A butterfly undergoes a process called complete metamorphosis during its life cycle. This means that the butterfly changes completely from its early larval stage, when it is a caterpillar, until the final stage, when it becomes a beautiful and graceful adult butterfly. The butterfly life cycle has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

    The larval or caterpillar stage and the adult butterfly have very different food preferences, largely due to the differences in their mouth parts. Caterpillars have chewing mouth parts, called mandibles, which enable them to eat leaves and other plant parts. Unlike caterpillars, butterflies can roam about and look for suitable food over a much broader territory. In most cases, adult butterflies can feed only on various liquids. They drink through a tube-like tongue called a proboscis. Most butterflies prefer flower nectar, but others may feed on the liquids found in rotting fruit, in ooze from trees, and in animal dung.

Fonte: Disponível em: https://www.uky.edu/hort/butterflies/all-about-butterflies.Acesso: 20 Jul 2022. (Adaptado).

Leia este texto para responder as questão de Inglês.

WHAT IS A BUTTERFLY?

    Butterflies are the adult flying stage of certain insects belonging to an order or group called Lepidoptera. Moths also belong to this group. The word "Lepidoptera" means "scaly wings" in Greek. This name perfectly suits the insects in this group because their wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales overlapping in rows. The scales, which are arranged in colorful designs unique to each species, are what gives the butterfly its beauty. Like all other insects, butterflies have six legs and three main body parts: head, thorax (chest or mid-section) and abdomen (tail end). They also have two antennae and an exoskeleton.

    A butterfly undergoes a process called complete metamorphosis during its life cycle. This means that the butterfly changes completely from its early larval stage, when it is a caterpillar, until the final stage, when it becomes a beautiful and graceful adult butterfly. The butterfly life cycle has four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

    The larval or caterpillar stage and the adult butterfly have very different food preferences, largely due to the differences in their mouth parts. Caterpillars have chewing mouth parts, called mandibles, which enable them to eat leaves and other plant parts. Unlike caterpillars, butterflies can roam about and look for suitable food over a much broader territory. In most cases, adult butterflies can feed only on various liquids. They drink through a tube-like tongue called a proboscis. Most butterflies prefer flower nectar, but others may feed on the liquids found in rotting fruit, in ooze from trees, and in animal dung.

Fonte: Disponível em: https://www.uky.edu/hort/butterflies/all-about-butterflies.Acesso: 20 Jul 2022. (Adaptado).

Read Passage 2 carefully, and then answer the question.

PASSAGE 2

[1] What are non-traditional study abroad programs? 
Non-traditional study abroad programs break from the mold of taking academic courses at one institution 
overseas. Also known as alternative or extreme study abroad, this new wave of options mixes things up through 
a focus on travel, service-learning, or cultural immersion instead of more traditional coursework. 
[5] These programs can last the standard length of a semester or year or can be shorter, ranging from a few days to 
several weeks. The flexibility in program length offers students who may have difficulties breaking away from a 
rigorous course schedule the chance to go overseas and gain insight through a new experience. 
Who should consider non-traditional study abroad program? 
There is no right way to study abroad, and every student should find a program that matches their personal 
[10] learning style and goals. Students who are more likely to enjoy non-traditional study abroad programs have a 
high level of independence and are searching for unique experiences. They should also be looking for a way to 
learn that doesn’t involve a classroom. Alternative study abroad programs will often narrowly focus on a specific 
topic, generally relevant to the program's location. This provides the opportunity for students to gain specialized 
experience in an area of interest.

Available at: https://www.gooverseas.com/blog/alternative-study-abroad-programs (adapted) Accessed on: 17/07/2022.

Read Passage 1 carefully, and then answer the question.

PASSAGE 1

EXCHANGE PROGRAMS IN BRAZIL

[1] Intended for University of Basel students with the bachelor level (completed at least one year of a bachelor’s 
program), the exchange program is not intended simply for language stays. Rather, the idea is to give candidates 
an opportunity to become familiar with teaching and research at the respective Brazilian host university. Solid 
proficiency in English is therefore essential and must be demonstrated by taking the TOEFL- exam. The stay 
[5] abroad is funded for one or a maximum of two semesters. Students do not pay any tuition fees at the host 
university and remain enrolled at the University of Basel. 
Students receive a one-time stipend of approximately CHF 500. Cancellations require a great deal of work on the 
part of all institutions involved. If such an exceptional case does occur and a cancellation is required, the 
Student Exchange Office must be informed of this in writing.  

APPLICATION: PROCEDURE, APPLICATION AND DATES

[10] Prospective candidates should contact and submit their online application to the Student Exchange Office. 
Prospective candidates should contact the specialized advisors at the University of Basel to discuss the 
discipline-specific aspects of the exchange stay, especially issues concerning recognition. 
Prospective candidates submit their application through the online application system. Please carefully follow 
the instructions: 
[15] First time registration: Before you can apply, you need to register first whereupon you will get personal access 
to the system. Please follow the instructions carefully. Link to the registration portal: next application round as 
of August. Application deadline: 15 December for the subsequent academic year (fall semester and/or spring 
semester. The application file must be submitted to the Student Exchange Office.  

Source:https://www.unibas.ch/en/Studies/Mobility/Mobility-Global/Out-Going/Exchange-Brasil (Adapted). Accessed on 21 August, 2022.