Critical Reasoning

Since 1975 there has been in the United States a dramatic decline in the incidence of traditional childhood diseases such as measles. This decline has been accompanied by an increased incidence of Peterson's disease, a hitherto rare viral infection, among children. Few adults, however, have been affected by the disease. Which of the following, if true, would best help to explain the increased incidence of Peterson's disease among children?
(A) Hereditary factors determine in part the degree to which a person is susceptible to the virus that causes Peterson's disease.
(B) The decrease in traditional childhood diseases and the accompanying increase in Peterson's disease have not been found in any other country.
(C) Children who contract measles develop an immunity to the virus that causes Peterson's disease.
(D) Persons who did not contract measles in childhood might contract measles in adulthood, in which case the consequences of the disease would generally be more
severe.
(E) Those who have contracted Peterson's disease are at increased risk of contracting chicken pox

c

crackinggmat wrote:Since 1975 there has been in the United States a dramatic decline in the incidence of traditional childhood diseases such as measles. This decline has been accompanied by an increased incidence of Peterson's disease, a hitherto rare viral infection, among children. Few adults, however, have been affected by the disease. Which of the following, if true, would best help to explain the increased incidence of Peterson's disease among children?
(A) Hereditary factors determine in part the degree to which a person is susceptible to the virus that causes Peterson's disease.
(B) The decrease in traditional childhood diseases and the accompanying increase in Peterson's disease have not been found in any other country.
(C) Children who contract measles develop an immunity to the virus that causes Peterson's disease.
(D) Persons who did not contract measles in childhood might contract measles in adulthood, in which case the consequences of the disease would generally be more
severe.
(E) Those who have contracted Peterson's disease are at increased risk of contracting chicken pox

c

Premise: Decline in Measles, accompanied by increase in Peterson's disease. Measles is a children disease.
The question asks what might be driving the increase of Peterson's disease among children?

Note that it does not ask you about adults, so you can ignore the part of the question that talks about Perterson's disease also being seen in adults.

A - Irrelevant
B - Irrelevant (not comparing US with any other country)
D - Irrelevant (does not talk about Peterson's diesease, we don't care about the consequences in adulthood here)
E - Irreleant (brings chicken pox in the discussion, we don't care about that either)
[spoiler]
C - If children were hit by Measles then they would have not gotten Peterson's disease since they would have developed immunity to the virus causing the Peterson's disease. Hence, clearly establishes a relation between the two.[/spoiler]