Critical Reasoning

The number of new cases of tuberculosis diagnosed in Country X increased dramatically this year. The country's news media have speculated that the sharp increase in new cases is the result of the tuberculosis outbreak that occurred in neighboring Country Y last year. Health officials in Country X have therefore proposed that all visitors from Country Y must submit to a medical examination before entering Country X.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly suggests that the proposed medical examinations will NOT help curb the spread of tuberculosis in Country X?
A) Country Z, which also neighbors Country Y, has not experienced an increase in cases of tuberculosis.
B) Current medical technology is not capable of detecting all carriers of tuberculosis.
C) Country X does not have the resources to examine all visitors from Country Y.
D) Tuberculosis is not spread through human contact.
E) Citizens of Country Y will not travel to Country X if the proposal is implemented.

OA is D

This question is from MGMAT CAT.
Please explain

SItuation: Since outbreak in Y may be responsible in X, propose to check every visitor from Y.
Reasoning: Visitor means human being, what if tb is not spread through human contact , if that is the case then whole exercise of testing every visitor is a waste, option D talks about this possibility and hence an credited answer.

A: What happens to country Z is not of much concern to X, may be Z though an neighbor is separated by an ocean, while X&Y are sharing the borde w/o obstraction.

B&C: Both are extreme cases and talks about complete blockage, no where argument takes about complete blockage. In practicality also, even if that is the scenario, one will never wait for technology to be completely fool proff or capacity to increase to cover every cases.

E: Y'snot travelling to X's is unrelated with outbreak proposal.

Opinion: Here we need to find an option which says "increase is not due to TB patients of Y entering X" or " X is epidemic"

A) No one said Y pateints are entering Z
B) Technology related... Out of scope
C) Same as B but this time resources... out of scope
D) 10% close to my second opinion (I am keeping this open)
E) Future scope... irrelevent.

POE : D

D) Tuberculosis is not spread through human contact.

Not sure on the word contact here, does it mean physical contact ?

Well, my reasoning was, it can still spread without human contact too, say it could be air borne through coughing

I would have straight away chosen this answer, had they mentioned option D as

"Tuberculosis is not spread through human interaction" or "Humans are not proven carriers of Tuberculosis".

I know MGMAT's official answer is D but , did my reasoning make sense ?

I was stuck between B and D and after much thinking eliminated B after seeing the word 'all' which I thought is too extreme to pick up in GMAT.

Can someone please suggest more precisely why not B?

This was tricky but if the correct answer really is D, it reinforces an important point that the best answer must also make the sense in general. I threw out 'D' because I felt it was outside the scope of impact for the argument which doesn't suggest any science to how tuberculosis is contracted.

gmat7202011 wrote:D) Tuberculosis is not spread through human contact.

Not sure on the word contact here, does it mean physical contact ?

Well, my reasoning was, it can still spread without human contact too, say it could be air borne through coughing

I would have straight away chosen this answer, had they mentioned option D as

"Tuberculosis is not spread through human interaction" or "Humans are not proven carriers of Tuberculosis".

I know MGMAT's official answer is D but , did my reasoning make sense ?

I agree with you, infact my thought process was in similar lines.

yes D it is..

I used POE here. The conclusion says that all visitors from country Y need to submit to a medical examination. And the question asks us which the foll. will NOT help curb the spread of Tuberculosis?

A) Country Z, which also neighbors Country Y, has not experienced an increase in cases of tuberculosis. ---- not related to conclusion
B) Current medical technology is not capable of detecting all carriers of tuberculosis. --- we are not concerned with detecting all carriers. the conclusion deals with spread of tuberculosis
C) Country X does not have the resources to examine all visitors from Country Y. --- not important
D) Tuberculosis is not spread through human contact. ---the best answer that says medical examination of people to curb the spread will not work out since the disease spreads by some other means and not human contact
E) Citizens of Country Y will not travel to Country X if the proposal is implemented---irrelevant