Hong Kong immigration and hospital officials are stepping up efforts to fend off the spread of H7N9 bird flu, which surfaced outside China for the first time last week, as floods of mainland Chinese tourists descend on Hong Kong for the Labor Day holiday. 香港入境事务处和医院负责人正在加紧部署种种举措以阻止H7N9禽流感的传播。与此同时由于正值劳动节假期，中国内地游客如潮水般涌入香港。上周中国境外首次出现人感染H7N9禽流感病例。

The government is deploying greater manpower at the border at the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen, one of the busiest border crossings in the world, to screen travelers for elevated body temperatures, and tour operators are being urged to monitor the condition of individual tourists. 特区政府在中国内地城市深圳的入港口岸部署更多人力，以筛查体温异常升高的旅客。同时有关方面也在敦促旅行社监控个别旅客的情况。深圳是全球最繁忙的边境口岸之一。

Some 4.2 million people are expected to cross Hong Kong's borders during the holiday, which runs from April 27 to May 1, most crossing via Shenzhen. 在五一长假期间，预计将有约420万人通过边境口岸进入香港，其中大多数通过深圳口岸入港。今年的五一长假从4月27日起至5月1日止。

On Friday, government officials grabbed mops and rubber gloves to help scrub down markets in the city, as part of a three-day campaign to promote good hygiene. To control H7N9 outbreaks, the city has stepped up patrols in poultry markets, Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam said. 上周五，特区政府官员拿起拖把和橡胶手套，帮助擦洗香港各个市场。这也是为期三天的促进良好卫生习惯运动的组成部分。特区政府政务司司长林郑月娥说，为了防止H7N9疫情爆发，香港已经在家禽市场加强了巡逻。

Hong Kong has long been ground zero in the fight against infectious disease. In 1997, after bird flu first jumped the species barrier, Hong Kong was the first city to be badly affected. The densely populated city was ravaged by severe acute respiratory syndrome in the 2003 outbreak that killed 299 people locally and affected whole apartment blocks. 长期以来香港一直是对抗传染性疾病的重点城市。1997年，在出现首例人感染禽流感病例之后，香港成了首个受严重影响的城市。2003年爆发的非典型性肺炎(SARS)在人口稠密的香港肆虐，在当地造成299人死亡，并影响整幢整幢的公寓大楼。

Although it isn't nearly as contagious as SARS─which was spread in certain Hong Kong neighborhoods through plumbing─in some ways, the latest H7N9 outbreak is more worrisome than the H5N1 outbreak that started in 1997, said Malik Peiris, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong. 虽然从某些方面看，H7N9禽流感的传染性没有SARS强，但香港大学(University of Hong Kong) 病毒学家裴伟士(Malik Peiris)说，最新爆发的H7N9 禽流感比1997年爆发的H5N1禽流感更令人担忧。当年在香港的某些社区SARS病毒曾通过排水管道传播。

For one, says Mr. Peiris, H7N9 appears to be more easily contracted by humans when they are exposed to diseased birds. 裴伟士说，原因之一在于人类接触到病禽后更容易感染H7N9病毒。

Another challenge is containing the virus's spread within the bird population, researchers say. 研究人员说，另一个挑战是如何将病毒传播控制在鸟类种群中。

'With this virus, there don't seem to be any symptoms [for birds],' said Hong Kong microbiologist Ho Pak-leung. 'So it will be very difficult to track.' 香港微生物学家何栢良(Ho Pak-leung)说，鸟类在感染了这一病毒后似乎没有任何症状。

For the moment, experts say the risk of a mass outbreak remains limited, given that the virus isn't easily spread from human to human. 就目前而言专家说，疫情大规模爆发的风险仍然有限，因为该病毒并不容易在人际间传播。

Hong Kong is better equipped to fight an outbreak than ever before. The city's public hospitals have more than 1,400 isolation beds that allow for swift quarantines. In 2003, such facilities were extremely limited, said Nelson Lee, a doctor who treated patients at the Prince of Wales Hospital when SARS struck. Scores of workers at that hospital contracted the disease, he recalled, though none succumbed to it. 香港目前应对疫情爆发的条件好于以往任何时候。香港的公立医院有超过1,400张隔离病床，能够迅速隔离危重病人。SARS来袭时曾在威尔斯亲王医院(Prince of Wales Hospital)治疗患者的医生Nelson Lee说，2003年时此类设施非常有限。他回忆说，威尔斯亲王医院有数十名工作人员感染了SARS，不过无人死亡。

To protect his family during the SARS outbreak, Dr. Lee moved out of his apartment and lived in self-imposed quarantine for months while treating patients, seeing his wife and young son only once a day through the grille of a metal door when they came to drop off his dinner. Many other doctors did the same. SARS爆发期间，Nelson Lee为保护家人从公寓搬出，在救治病人的同时，连续几个月住在自设的隔离房里。妻儿每天来给他送一次饭，他从铁门格栅里看看他们。很多其他医生当时都是这么做的。

The legacy of SARS is evident today in the signs dotting escalator rails and elevator buttons around town that tout how many times a day they are disinfected. SARS的影响到今天还显而易见：香港各地的扶梯扶手和电梯按钮上都贴有标识，上面写着一天消毒几次。

In the wake of SARS, the government in 2004 set up a new center focused on disease control, including better surveillance and diagnostic systems. SARS过去后，2004年香港政府新建了一个疾病防控中心，其中包括更完善的疾病监测和诊断系统。

'In terms of hardware, I don't worry, and I think that Hong Kong is the best-prepared city in the world,' said Justin Wu of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one of the doctors on the front lines during the SARS crisis. SARS危机时拼在第一线的医生、现供职于香港中文大学(Chinese University of Hong Kong)的Justin Wu说，从硬件来看，我并不担心，我认为香港是世界上准备最充分的城市。

But Dr. Wu said he is concerned that when it comes to health-care workers, the city's public-health system─its first line of defense─is less well-equipped. 但他说，自己担心的是医疗工作者，香港公共卫生系统是抵御疾病的第一道防线，这个系统准备得并不那么充分。

In the 10 years since SARS, the public hospital system has seen an exodus of many of its most talented workers, said Dr. Wu, because many have been lured away by higher-paying private sector jobs. Justin Wu说，SARS之后的这10年里，公立医院系统流失了大批有才华的员工，其中很多是被私立医院的高薪工作所吸引。

In addition to its efforts to improve hospital capacity, the city has tightened poultry controls. Cantonese cooking places a high premium on fresh ingredients, but in recent years, the government has clamped down on the live poultry trade through a buyout program. The number of vendors selling live chickens has shrunk to around 100 from over 800. 除努力加强医院自身能力外，香港还收紧了禽类控制措施。粤菜烹调一直很讲究新鲜的食材，但近年来港府通过一个收购项目抑制了活禽交易。售卖活鸡的摊贩数量从800个以上锐减至100个左右。

The city currently imports 7,000 live chickens daily from mainland China, and it regularly tests 3% of such imports for avian influenza. In recent weeks, it has also begun spot checks that allow for more rapid testing. The city has special teams to collect and test dead wild birds for bird flu; it has tested over 33,000 such birds in the past decade. 香港目前每天从中国内地进口7,000只活鸡，并对其中3%的活鸡进行禽流感常规检测。这几周香港已开始采用“点检”的方式，这样检测会更快。香港有特别行动小组，专门收集并检测死亡的野生禽鸟是否感染禽流感。过去10年，香港已对3.3万只死亡禽鸟进行了检测。

As of Saturday night, there were 120 confirmed cases of H7N9 in mainland China, mostly concentrated in the eastern coastal regions, with 23 deaths. Last week, the virus spread for the first time outside the mainland, with one case diagnosed in Taiwan. 截至周六晚，中国内地H7N9确诊病例为120例，大多集中于东部沿海地区，死亡23例。上周该病毒首次蔓延至中国内地以外，台湾确诊了一例。

Hong Kong officials say they are ready to halt live poultry imports or cull birds if needed, as Shanghai has already done, to prevent a mass outbreak. The city has periodically conducted such campaigns since its initial bird flu outbreak in 1997. Last year, it culled hundreds of exotic birds at a market beloved by bird fanciers after a strain of H5N1 was detected. 香港官员说，如有必要，他们随时准备像上海那样，为防止爆发大规模疫病暂停活禽进口或扑杀禽鸟。自从1997年首次爆发禽流感以来，香港便定期展开此类行动。去年在香港发现H5N1禽流感病毒后，该市在养鸟爱好者锺爱的市场扑杀了数百只非本地的“舶来鸟”。