full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Louise Thwaites: Why is it so dangerous to step on a rusty nail?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the 5th century, Greek physician Hippocrates, creator of the Hippocratic Oath, was sinlaig with a very ill shipmaster. The captain was suffering a nasty icfeontin that caused his jaws to press together, his tteeh to lock up, and the muscles in his neck and spine to spasm. Hippocrates dutifully recorded these symptoms, but he was unable to treat the mysterious disease. And six days later, the shipmaster succumbed to his illness.

Today, we know this account to be one of the first recorded cases of tetanus, and thankfully, modern pcinihasys are much more prerepad to handle this peculiar infection. Unlike other common beracital infections like tuberculosis and strep throat, tetanus doesn’t pass from person to person. Instead, the offending bacterium, known as Clostridium tetani, infects the body through cuts and abrasions. These infection sites are why tetanus is so strongly associated with rtusy nlais and scrap maetl, which can cause such wounds, but the condition's connection to rust is actually much less direct. Clostridium tetani bacteria are often found in soil, manure, and dead leaves, where they can sruvvie for yaers in the form of spores, even amidst emetxre heat and dryness. These piles of organic material can sit ueduistnbrd for long peridos, pnieatlotly concealing old metal, which rtsus over time. So, if someone does blunder into this environment and cuts themselves, it would likely increase their odds of infection. Especially since rusty metal can create jagged wounds with lots of dayngeeeoxtd dead tsusie for them to latch on to.

Open Cloze


In the 5th century, Greek physician Hippocrates, creator of the Hippocratic Oath, was _______ with a very ill shipmaster. The captain was suffering a nasty _________ that caused his jaws to press together, his _____ to lock up, and the muscles in his neck and spine to spasm. Hippocrates dutifully recorded these symptoms, but he was unable to treat the mysterious disease. And six days later, the shipmaster succumbed to his illness.

Today, we know this account to be one of the first recorded cases of tetanus, and thankfully, modern __________ are much more ________ to handle this peculiar infection. Unlike other common _________ infections like tuberculosis and strep throat, tetanus doesn’t pass from person to person. Instead, the offending bacterium, known as Clostridium tetani, infects the body through cuts and abrasions. These infection sites are why tetanus is so strongly associated with _____ _____ and scrap _____, which can cause such wounds, but the condition's connection to rust is actually much less direct. Clostridium tetani bacteria are often found in soil, manure, and dead leaves, where they can _______ for _____ in the form of spores, even amidst _______ heat and dryness. These piles of organic material can sit ___________ for long _______, ___________ concealing old metal, which _____ over time. So, if someone does blunder into this environment and cuts themselves, it would likely increase their odds of infection. Especially since rusty metal can create jagged wounds with lots of ____________ dead ______ for them to latch on to.

Solution


  1. infection
  2. deoxygenated
  3. rusts
  4. metal
  5. periods
  6. sailing
  7. rusty
  8. years
  9. nails
  10. prepared
  11. survive
  12. undisturbed
  13. physicians
  14. tissue
  15. potentially
  16. bacterial
  17. extreme
  18. teeth

Original Text


In the 5th century, Greek physician Hippocrates, creator of the Hippocratic Oath, was sailing with a very ill shipmaster. The captain was suffering a nasty infection that caused his jaws to press together, his teeth to lock up, and the muscles in his neck and spine to spasm. Hippocrates dutifully recorded these symptoms, but he was unable to treat the mysterious disease. And six days later, the shipmaster succumbed to his illness.

Today, we know this account to be one of the first recorded cases of tetanus, and thankfully, modern physicians are much more prepared to handle this peculiar infection. Unlike other common bacterial infections like tuberculosis and strep throat, tetanus doesn’t pass from person to person. Instead, the offending bacterium, known as Clostridium tetani, infects the body through cuts and abrasions. These infection sites are why tetanus is so strongly associated with rusty nails and scrap metal, which can cause such wounds, but the condition's connection to rust is actually much less direct. Clostridium tetani bacteria are often found in soil, manure, and dead leaves, where they can survive for years in the form of spores, even amidst extreme heat and dryness. These piles of organic material can sit undisturbed for long periods, potentially concealing old metal, which rusts over time. So, if someone does blunder into this environment and cuts themselves, it would likely increase their odds of infection. Especially since rusty metal can create jagged wounds with lots of deoxygenated dead tissue for them to latch on to.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
clostridium tetani 3
tetanus toxin 3


Important Words


  1. abrasions
  2. account
  3. bacteria
  4. bacterial
  5. bacterium
  6. blunder
  7. body
  8. captain
  9. cases
  10. caused
  11. century
  12. clostridium
  13. common
  14. concealing
  15. connection
  16. create
  17. creator
  18. cuts
  19. days
  20. dead
  21. deoxygenated
  22. direct
  23. disease
  24. dryness
  25. dutifully
  26. environment
  27. extreme
  28. form
  29. greek
  30. handle
  31. heat
  32. hippocrates
  33. hippocratic
  34. ill
  35. illness
  36. increase
  37. infection
  38. infections
  39. infects
  40. jagged
  41. jaws
  42. latch
  43. leaves
  44. lock
  45. long
  46. lots
  47. manure
  48. material
  49. metal
  50. modern
  51. muscles
  52. mysterious
  53. nails
  54. nasty
  55. neck
  56. oath
  57. odds
  58. offending
  59. organic
  60. pass
  61. peculiar
  62. periods
  63. person
  64. physician
  65. physicians
  66. piles
  67. potentially
  68. prepared
  69. press
  70. recorded
  71. rust
  72. rusts
  73. rusty
  74. sailing
  75. scrap
  76. shipmaster
  77. sit
  78. sites
  79. soil
  80. spasm
  81. spine
  82. spores
  83. strep
  84. strongly
  85. succumbed
  86. suffering
  87. survive
  88. symptoms
  89. teeth
  90. tetani
  91. tetanus
  92. thankfully
  93. throat
  94. time
  95. tissue
  96. today
  97. treat
  98. tuberculosis
  99. unable
  100. undisturbed
  101. wounds
  102. years