Le combat de Roald Dahl contre la rougeole

Roald Dahl becomes sage of US measles outbreak

Open letter written by author of Matilda and BFG after death of his seven-year-old daughter urged parents to immunise their children

Measles = la rougeole
Outbreak = un accès, un déclenchement, une éruption

To urge = conseiller vivement, pousser à

In the context of the US measles epidemic, it might not be in the best possible taste to report that Roald Dahl went viral over the weekend. But that’s what happened when commentators picked up on a cautionary letter he wrote following the death of his seven-year-old daughter from the disease. Two of Dahl’s best-loved novels, James and the Giant Peach and The BFG, are dedicated to Olivia, who died in 1962 – but it was a heartbreaking plea the author wrote a quarter of a century later that caught the imagination.
Taste = le goût
To go viral = se propager comme un virus
To pick up on = revenir sur, reprendre
Cautionary = (servant) d’avertissement
The death = la mort
A disease = une maladie
The BFG = le bon gros géant
To be dedicated to = être dédicacé à
To die = mourir
A heartbreaking plea = un appel qui fend le cœur/ déchirant
A quarter of a century later = un quart de siècle plus tard
To catch = attraper, attirer

“Olivia, my eldest daughter, caught measles when she was seven years old. As the illness took its usual course I can remember reading to her often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed about it. Then one morning, when she was well on the road to recovery, I was sitting on her bed showing her how to fashion little animals out of coloured pipe-cleaners, and when it came to her turn to make one herself, I noticed that her fingers and her mind were not working together and she couldn’t do anything. “Are you feeling all right?” I asked her. “I feel all sleepy, ” she said. In an hour, she was unconscious. In twelve hours she was dead,” he wrote.
Eldest = la plus agée, l’ainée
To catch measles = attraper la rougeole
The illness = la maladie
To take its usual course = suivre son cours normal
To be well on the road to recovery = être en bonne voie de guérison
To fashion = fabriquer, confectionner
Pipe-cleaner = un cure-pipe
To her turn = à son tour
Her mind = son esprit (cerveau)
To feel sleepy = avoir sommeil
Unconscious = inconsciente
Dead = mort(e)

“The measles had turned into a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and there was nothing the doctors could do to save her. That was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles happens to develop the same deadly reaction from measles as Olivia did, there would still be nothing the doctors could do to help her. On the other hand, there is today something that parents can do to make sure that this sort of tragedy does not happen to a child of theirs. They can insist that their child is immunised against measles.”
To save = sauver
Even now = maintenant encore
Deadly = mortel
Still = encore, toujours
On the other hand = d’un autre côté
Immunised = vacciné

Dahl’s widow, the actress Patricia Neal, told a newspaper after his death that he was so traumatised by the loss that he could never speak about it. “Over the years, I found that talking about Olivia helped immeasurably. Roald couldn’t say a word. It was locked inside him.”
A widow = une veuve
(A widower = un veuf)
The loss = la perte (de son enfant)
Over the years = au fil du temps
Locked inside = enfermé à l’intérieur

He pulled himself together to give his testimony for a leaflet published by Sandwell Health Authority (now Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust) around the time that the controversial measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) was to be introduced to the UK in 1988. It has since been taken up by medical campaign groups including the Encephalitis Society and the Oxford Vaccine Project.
To pull oneself together = se reprendre, se ressaisir
A testimony = un témoignage
A leaflet = un dépliant/ prospectus
Mumps =oreillons
Rubella = rubéole
MMR = ROR (rougeole, oreillon, rubéole)
To take up = accaparer

“In my opinion parents who now refuse to have their children immunised are putting the lives of those children at risk,” continued Dahl. “In America, where measles immunisation is compulsory, measles, like smallpox, has been virtually wiped out. Here in Britain, because so many parents refuse, either out of obstinacy or ignorance or fear, to allow their children to be immunised, we still have a hundred thousand cases of measles every year.”
Compulsory = obligatoire
Smallpox = la variole
To wipe out = anéantir
Either ... or ... = soit...soit...
Fear = la peur
To allow = permettre
A hundred thousand = une centaine de milliers

According to Sky News, the US outbreak, which has now caused 95 cases in nine states, is believed to have been spread by an unvaccinated woman at Disneyland in California. With an irony that would not have been lost on the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with its fatally spoiled brats Augustus Gloop and Veruca Salt, doctors in Orange County warned last week that richer families were less likely to immunise their children. 
According to = selon
Outbreak = accès, poussée, éruption
To spread = étaler, étendre
Spoiled brats = des gosses/ enfants gâtés
To warn = prévenir
To be less likely = être moins probable

Sky reported that the US experienced a record number of measles cases last year, with 644 infections from 27 states, despite the disease being largely eliminated in 2000. In the UK, measles has also been on the rise.
Despite = malgré
On the rise = en hausse

Claire Armitstead

Monday 2 February 2015

Roald Dahl becomes sage of US measles outbreak

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2015/feb/02/roald-dahl-becomes-sage-of-us-measles-outbreak

Niveau de lecture correct, longueur de texte moyenne.

Watch how the measles outbreak spreads when kids get vaccinated - and when they don't

If you take 10 communities and run a simulation, it's easy to see why we need as many members of the 'herd' as possible to get vaccines - before it's too late

http://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2015/feb/05/-sp-watch-how-measles-outbreak-spreads-when-kids-get-vaccinated

Voici un lien très intéressant pour visualiser l'évolution de la rougeole sans vaccination.