full transcript

From the Ted Talk by George Zaidan: The epidemics that almost happened

Unscramble the Blue Letters


For example, Brazil quenched an oetbuark of yellow fever, which is spread by mosquitoes, primarily by mounting a massive vaccination campaign. That strategy worked well for Brazil because it’s one of the major global pdeourrcs of the yellow fever vaccine, and its poiutalopn was accustomed to regular, routine vaccinations.

But for many diseases, you don't even need a mass vaccination program. In August of 2021, a truck driver ttesed positive for cholera in Burkina Faso. Health care workers alerted the government that same day and contact tracing baegn immediately. Cholera is caused by a bacterium, so Burkina Faso gave antibiotics to those esxoepd or peinlatotly exposed. This extremely fast response stopped the outbreak just a few weeks after it staetrd. crhloea often rears its head in West Africa— in 2021, there were over 100,000 cases and more than 3,700 datehs. Because Burkina Faso was so well peaerrpd, they had zero deaths that year. Zero.

Open Cloze


For example, Brazil quenched an ________ of yellow fever, which is spread by mosquitoes, primarily by mounting a massive vaccination campaign. That strategy worked well for Brazil because it’s one of the major global _________ of the yellow fever vaccine, and its __________ was accustomed to regular, routine vaccinations.

But for many diseases, you don't even need a mass vaccination program. In August of 2021, a truck driver ______ positive for cholera in Burkina Faso. Health care workers alerted the government that same day and contact tracing _____ immediately. Cholera is caused by a bacterium, so Burkina Faso gave antibiotics to those _______ or ___________ exposed. This extremely fast response stopped the outbreak just a few weeks after it _______. _______ often rears its head in West Africa— in 2021, there were over 100,000 cases and more than 3,700 ______. Because Burkina Faso was so well ________, they had zero deaths that year. Zero.

Solution


  1. outbreak
  2. began
  3. producers
  4. cholera
  5. deaths
  6. exposed
  7. potentially
  8. started
  9. population
  10. tested
  11. prepared

Original Text


For example, Brazil quenched an outbreak of yellow fever, which is spread by mosquitoes, primarily by mounting a massive vaccination campaign. That strategy worked well for Brazil because it’s one of the major global producers of the yellow fever vaccine, and its population was accustomed to regular, routine vaccinations.

But for many diseases, you don't even need a mass vaccination program. In August of 2021, a truck driver tested positive for cholera in Burkina Faso. Health care workers alerted the government that same day and contact tracing began immediately. Cholera is caused by a bacterium, so Burkina Faso gave antibiotics to those exposed or potentially exposed. This extremely fast response stopped the outbreak just a few weeks after it started. Cholera often rears its head in West Africa— in 2021, there were over 100,000 cases and more than 3,700 deaths. Because Burkina Faso was so well prepared, they had zero deaths that year. Zero.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
burkina faso 3
southern guinea 2
people contracted 2
response system 2
health officials 2
alert system 2
vaccination campaign 2
animal outbreaks 2


Important Words


  1. accustomed
  2. alerted
  3. antibiotics
  4. august
  5. bacterium
  6. began
  7. brazil
  8. burkina
  9. campaign
  10. care
  11. cases
  12. caused
  13. cholera
  14. contact
  15. day
  16. deaths
  17. diseases
  18. driver
  19. exposed
  20. extremely
  21. faso
  22. fast
  23. fever
  24. gave
  25. global
  26. government
  27. head
  28. health
  29. immediately
  30. major
  31. mass
  32. massive
  33. mosquitoes
  34. mounting
  35. outbreak
  36. population
  37. positive
  38. potentially
  39. prepared
  40. primarily
  41. producers
  42. program
  43. quenched
  44. rears
  45. regular
  46. response
  47. routine
  48. spread
  49. started
  50. stopped
  51. strategy
  52. tested
  53. tracing
  54. truck
  55. vaccination
  56. vaccinations
  57. vaccine
  58. weeks
  59. west
  60. worked
  61. workers
  62. year
  63. yellow