LAGOS, NIGERIA — People avoid shaking hands here these days. The government is urging us not to. This is a serious matter in a country where a casual “hello” is downright rude and everyday greetings involve elaborate rituals based upon age, rank and even the state of the weather and the day of the week. Until about a month ago, it was by no means unusual for two friends, male as well as female, to remain hand-in-hand long after the protocol of the greeting was complete. Now not so. The Ebola scare has introduced a new awkwardness in social relations.
尼日利亚拉各斯——这里的人现在都会避免握手。政府正在呼吁我们不要握手。这是一个很严重的问题，因为在尼日利亚，随口说声“你好”绝对是种粗鲁之举，这里的日常问候是一种复杂的礼仪，根据年龄、等级、乃至天气状况如何和当天是星期几而变化。直到大约一个月前，两个朋友，无论男女，在问候礼仪完成后很久仍然手握着手的情况绝不少见。但现在不同了。埃博拉疫情造成的恐慌，已经给社会关系制造了一个新的尴尬。

I first heard about the government’s call to avoid shaking hands from a priest at Mass three Sundays ago. It was not long after the Ebola virus had landed at the Lagos airport on July 20 in the person of Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian national and naturalized American citizen who had fled the Liberian capital Monrovia in hope of better treatment in Nigeria. He died five days later, by which time others had been infected, whereupon the Lagos state government, in collaboration with federal authorities, was quick to promulgate the message: Avoid physical contact, wash your hands frequently, and leave it to professionals to handle the dead.
我第一次听到政府避免握手的号召，是三周前的周日弥撒上由一位牧师传达的。当时埃博拉病毒抵达尼日利亚还没有多久：利比里亚裔美国公民帕特里克·索耶(Patrick Sawyer)感染后，逃离了利比里亚首都蒙罗维亚，希望在尼日利亚获得更好的治疗，他于7月20日抵达拉各斯机场。五天以后，他过世了，但那个时候其他人已经被他感染，于是拉各斯州政府与联邦当局合作，很快就发布了预防埃博拉的消息：避免身体接触，经常洗手，亡者留给专业人士来处理。
While the country’s myriad radio stations broadcast the warnings, the authorities also asked churches and mosques to spread the word. (Most Nigerians are profoundly religious, and even many nonbelievers attend services, compelled as often as not by neighborly tradition rather than pietistic pressure.)
尼日利亚众多电台播放了这些警告，当局还要求教堂和清真寺传达这个消息。（大多数尼日利亚人都笃信宗教，甚至还有很多非信徒参加礼拜，这通常是街坊传统使然，而非虔诚信仰的压力。）
Working from the airline passenger list and hospital patient information, the authorities were quickly able to develop a comprehensive list of those who came into contact with Mr. Sawyer, and sent medical workers to locate those who might have been exposed to the virus. Some 200 people were put under observation until the 21-day incubation period had passed.
当局根据航空公司的乘客名单和医院的病人信息，很快就列出了一份完整清单，内含所有与索耶接触过的人。而且当局还派出医疗人员，寻找那些可能已经接触到病毒的人。大约有200人接受观察，直到21天的潜伏期完全结束。
The authorities wanted to avoid the panic and mayhem that occurred in Liberia, and I have to say (though I usually find very little to praise in any government in Nigeria) that the speed and efficiency with which the Lagos State authorities reacted was exemplary. It seems as if the virus has been contained in this city of 20 million people. Agence France-Presse reported this week that 320 people suspected of exposure to the virus have been certified clear and released, and that another 41 remained under surveillance.
埃博拉在利比里亚引发了恐慌和混乱，尼日利亚当局希望避免重蹈它的覆辙，我不得不说（虽然我平时很少对尼日利亚的各级政府予以赞扬），拉各斯州当局的反应速度和效率堪称典范。在这个2000万人口的城市，病毒看起来已被控制住。据法新社(Agence France-Presse)报道，本周有320个可能接触过埃博拉病毒的人，已被证实未受感染，并且解除了隔离，另有41人仍然有待观察。
But the situation here and elsewhere is still uncertain. Despite all the precautions, one of the nurses who had treated Mr. Sawyer managed to escape a poorly guarded isolation ward and travel to the southern city of Enugu. Her name was never released, and it is not known why a professional nurse would suddenly take flight. In any case, the Enugu state government was quick to act. All of the 20 or so people she is known to have come into close contact with during her daylong trip from Lagos were located and placed under surveillance. Though the nurse, who apparently did not know she was infected, has since been reported to have died, there have been no reports — so far — that any of the people she came in contact with have been infected.
但这里和其他地方的局势依然不明朗。尽管采取了各种预防措施，接触过索耶的一名护士还是逃出了守卫松懈的隔离病房，前往南部城市埃努古。我们一直不知道她的名字，也不知道为什么一个职业护士会突然逃走。但无论如何，埃努古州政府迅速采取行动。这名护士离开拉各斯后，在一整天的行程中曾密切接触过约20人，现在这些人都被找到，并处在监控之下。这名护士似乎不知道自己已经感染病毒，虽然报道称她已经去世，但迄今还没有听说她接触过的任何人感染了埃博拉病毒。
People in Port Harcourt, the oil capital in the south, have not been so lucky. Another suspected carrier also escaped from a Lagos isolation ward. Unlike the nurse, he allegedly knew he was infected. The doctor he consulted died of Ebola on Aug. 22, according to the World Health Organization. The doctor’s wife, who was flown to Lagos for treatment with her three-month-old baby, is also said to have died, according to local media reports. The infant’s fate is unknown. The authorities say the man who infected them may be tried on manslaughter charges. W.H.O. officials said this week that there were three confirmed cases of Ebola infection in the city, and that some 200 people remain under surveillance there.
南部石油之都哈科特港的人们就没有这么幸运了。另一名可能携带埃博拉病毒的病人也从拉各斯的隔离病房逃离，与那名护士不同，据说他知道自己感染了病毒。据世界卫生组织(World Health Organization)透露，他咨询过的医生因为感染埃博拉病毒于8月22日死亡。当地媒体报道称，这名医生的妻子为了给三个月大的婴儿治病飞到了拉各斯，据称，她已经死亡。这名婴儿的命运目前还不得而知。当局称，导致他们感染病毒的男子可能会遭到审讯，罪名是过失杀人。WHO官员本周表示，该市确认了三例感染埃博拉病毒的病例，大约有200人仍然处在监控下。
The tendency to panic in the face of a deadly virus with no known cure is of course understandable, especially given the stories that have been coming out of Monrovia and elsewhere in West Africa. Foreigners from suspect countries are regarded warily. Just recently, the Lagos police, acting on a tip from fearful neighbors, raided a hotel and arrested 39 people, 35 of them from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The others were from Senegal, or Sierra Leone, depending upon what newspapers you read.
当然，面对这种无法治疗的致命病毒，出现恐慌倾向是可以理解的，特别是考虑到蒙罗维亚及西非其他地方传来的报道。来自可能存在风险的国家的外国人受到密切关注。就在最近，拉各斯警方根据担忧的邻居提供的情报，采取行动，突击搜查了一家酒店，逮捕了39人，其中有35人来自刚果民主共和国。剩下的来自塞内加尔或塞拉利昂，各报的报道存在不同。
There have also been the inevitable quack cures, as well as traditional herbal remedies from folk doctors. In one bizarre case, claims that drinking and bathing in salt water would prevent infection flooded the Internet. A surprising number of people apparently believed it. Two are reported to have died from drinking salt water, and another 20 have been hospitalized.
庸医胡乱治病、民间医生使用传统草药治疗的情况不可避免地出现了。还有个匪夷所思的事情是，喝盐水和用盐水洗澡可以防止感染病毒的说法在网上广为流传。看来相信这种说法的人意想不到地多。据称，有两人因为喝盐水而死亡，还有20人入院就医。
Yet it is remarkable how calm most people have remained. Not that they aren’t taking precautions. The other day, for instance, a bank security guard offered me some of the hand disinfectant that most people seem to carry about these days, as did the owner of a local cafe I frequent.
但值得注意的是，大多数人能够保持冷静。这并不是说他们不采取预防措施。例如，有一天，一名银行保安给了我一些手消毒液，一家我经常光顾的当地咖啡馆的老板也给了我一些，目前大多数人似乎都带着这种消毒液。
There is little doubt that quick action by the authorities has generated a broad sense of civic responsibility that is rare in Nigeria. Even the federal government, otherwise so mired in corruption that it is helpless in the face of our home-grown Islamist insurgency, appears to have taken an atypically responsible approach. Despite the perennial distrust that most Nigerians have toward any government statement, the fact that the virus has so far been relatively contained has given this nation of skeptics hope that our leaders can govern, once they put their minds to it.
毫无疑问，当局的快速行动促使广大民众产生责任感，这在尼日利亚非常罕见。尽管联邦政府陷入腐败泥潭，对国内的伊斯兰主义叛乱束手无策，但这个政府似乎一反常态，承担责任，应对问题。尽管大多数尼日利亚人一直不相信政府的声明，但病毒到目前为止已经相对得到控制的事实，给这个充满疑虑的国家带来希望——如果我们的领导人愿意用心治理，他们就能治理好国家。
Nevertheless, fear remains that Ebola may yet spiral out of control. Another death was reported here this week, this one at the Lagos University teaching hospital. It is said, though not confirmed, that the health workers who attended to the victim were not wearing the recommended protective equipment.
尽管如此，人们仍然担心埃博拉疫情可能会失控。本周这里又出现了一例死亡病例，这次是在拉各斯大学(University of Lagos)的教学医院。据称，照料这名死者的医护人员没有穿戴相关部门推荐的防护装备，但该消息没有得到证实。
This does not inspire confidence. Though United Nations officials have praised the way Nigeria has handled the threat so far, the nation’s health minister warns that “a few” more cases are likely. In the meantime, most of us are crossing our fingers, rubbing our hands with disinfectant, and carrying on as best we can. Meanwhile, newspaper cartoonists are having a field day dreaming up alternatives to the handshake.
这对信心的建立是不利的。虽然联合国(United Nations)官员对尼日利亚迄今为止应对威胁的方式提出表扬，但该国卫生部长警告称，可能还会出现“一些”病例。在此期间，我们当中的大多数人都会祈祷，用消毒液搓手，尽可能继续这么做。与此同时，报纸漫画家正忙着构思代替握手的问候方式。