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Evaluate Concl-Spreading the Flu-Manhattan

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by rishijhawar » Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:46 am
Scientists recently documented that influenza spreads around the world more efficiently in the modern era due to commercial air travel. Symptoms of a pandemic-level flu are severe enough that the ill would likely cancel or reschedule air travel, but an infected person can travel across the globe before the first signs appear. Further, if symptoms develop while someone is still on a plane, the infected person's cough can spread the virus easily in the enclosed and closely packed environment.
Which of the following would best minimize the role air travel can play in the spread of influenza during a pandemic?

(A) installing air filtration systems in the planes to kill any flu virus particles flowing through the filters
(B) requiring air travelers to receive flu vaccinations far enough in advance of the trip to provide protection against the disease
(C) refusing to allow children, the elderly, or others who are especially vulnerable to flu to travel by air during a pandemic
(D) requiring all air travelers to wash their hands before boarding a plane
(E) conducting medical examinations during the boarding process to weed out passengers with flu symptoms

[spoiler]Answer per Manhattan B. IMO E.
Reason for rejecting B: even if travelers receive flu vaccinations, they may be infected on the date of travel (as we are not told how many vaccinations they will take so as not to be infected, which if we assume, I feel we are bringing outside knowledge something which a test taker needs to avoid.

Also, B has a catch: person with symptoms will LIKELY (not certainly) cancel/reschedule the travel. So, it cannot be said with certainty whether infected person/person with flu symptoms will not travel, and hence less impact of air travel.

Reason for selecting D: such examination will ensure only the persons who are neither infected nor have any flu symptoms (albeit early stage symptoms).[/spoiler]
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Source: — Critical Reasoning |

by Ozlemg » Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:30 am
rishijhawar wrote:Scientists recently documented that influenza spreads around the world more efficiently in the modern era due to commercial air travel. Symptoms of a pandemic-level flu are severe enough that the ill would likely cancel or reschedule air travel, but an infected person can travel across the globe before the first signs appear. Further, if symptoms develop while someone is still on a plane, the infected person's cough can spread the virus easily in the enclosed and closely packed environment.
Which of the following would best minimize the role air travel can play in the spread of influenza during a pandemic?

(A) installing air filtration systems in the planes to kill any flu virus particles flowing through the filters
(B) requiring air travelers to receive flu vaccinations far enough in advance of the trip to provide protection against the disease
(C) refusing to allow children, the elderly, or others who are especially vulnerable to flu to travel by air during a pandemic
(D) requiring all air travelers to wash their hands before boarding a plane
(E) conducting medical examinations during the boarding process to weed out passengers with flu symptoms

[spoiler]Answer per Manhattan B. IMO E.
Reason for rejecting B: even if travelers receive flu vaccinations, they may be infected on the date of travel (as we are not told how many vaccinations they will take so as not to be infected, which if we assume, I feel we are bringing outside knowledge something which a test taker needs to avoid.

Also, B has a catch: person with symptoms will LIKELY (not certainly) cancel/reschedule the travel. So, it cannot be said with certainty whether infected person/person with flu symptoms will not travel, and hence less impact of air travel.

Reason for selecting D: such examination will ensure only the persons who are neither infected nor have any flu symptoms (albeit early stage symptoms).[/spoiler]
IMO E. IMO "Requiring" is weaker than "conducting" E seems the best option!
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by Ozlemg » Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:30 am
rishijhawar wrote:Scientists recently documented that influenza spreads around the world more efficiently in the modern era due to commercial air travel. Symptoms of a pandemic-level flu are severe enough that the ill would likely cancel or reschedule air travel, but an infected person can travel across the globe before the first signs appear. Further, if symptoms develop while someone is still on a plane, the infected person's cough can spread the virus easily in the enclosed and closely packed environment.
Which of the following would best minimize the role air travel can play in the spread of influenza during a pandemic?

(A) installing air filtration systems in the planes to kill any flu virus particles flowing through the filters
(B) requiring air travelers to receive flu vaccinations far enough in advance of the trip to provide protection against the disease
(C) refusing to allow children, the elderly, or others who are especially vulnerable to flu to travel by air during a pandemic
(D) requiring all air travelers to wash their hands before boarding a plane
(E) conducting medical examinations during the boarding process to weed out passengers with flu symptoms

[spoiler]Answer per Manhattan B. IMO E.
Reason for rejecting B: even if travelers receive flu vaccinations, they may be infected on the date of travel (as we are not told how many vaccinations they will take so as not to be infected, which if we assume, I feel we are bringing outside knowledge something which a test taker needs to avoid.

Also, B has a catch: person with symptoms will LIKELY (not certainly) cancel/reschedule the travel. So, it cannot be said with certainty whether infected person/person with flu symptoms will not travel, and hence less impact of air travel.

Reason for selecting D: such examination will ensure only the persons who are neither infected nor have any flu symptoms (albeit early stage symptoms).[/spoiler]
The more you suffer before the test, the less you will do so in the test! :)
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by ratan_2009 » Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:29 pm
E -doesnt take into account the stmt that an infected person can travel across the globe before the first signs appear. hence rejected
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by dinaroneo » Sat Jul 23, 2011 6:32 pm
True as Ratan_2009 said,
cant be E for : author clearly says "but an infected person can travel across the globe before the first signs appear. Further, if symptoms develop while someone is still on a plane"
So even if you do medical tests before boarding the flight, you can not be 100 % sure that no career of infection is travelling, because by the time the first signs of infection appear(any sign including signs of infection in blood etc), he would have reached the other country!!

Now B says all travellers irrespective of they have symptoms or not, should receive vaccination! There's no question of developing symptoms and canclling the travel!
Hence B
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by mankey » Fri Nov 25, 2011 11:11 pm
Between A and B. Though not very convinces but due to POE, will go with B.

Thanks.
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by ChessWriter » Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:49 pm
I am confused between A,B and E leaning more towards A. The Manhattan guide says that the Answer is B.

A in my view, is better than B because
1. Option B says that asking the passengers to complete a full course of vaccination far enough in advance willprotect them against the disease. Being a doctor, I know that Influenza vaccines are VERY ineffective and cannot be used to prevent disease. Their only reasonable use is to decrease the duration of the disease once it has occured. That is why they are given only to people who already have symptoms of flu. If you watched TV News during the SARS influenza outbreak, you'd have seen that the authorities almost never adminstered anyone the Anti-Influenza vaccine prophylactically. The vaccines in all cases were given only to those who were already affected by the disease.

Now, I might be accused of bringing outside knowledge to support an answer. But then couldn't the question writer be accused of presuming that all vaccines are 'protective' or 'prophylactic' vaccines ?!

2.The Question asks "Which of the following would best minimise the role AIR TRAVEL would play in the SPREAD of influenza during a pandemic? The role air travel will play would only be minimised by either reducing the number of patients who travel by air or reducing the transmission of flu within the aircraft. The influenza vaccine does not guarantee that lesser affected patients will travel by air if they are adminstered, so rule out B. Option C and D are stupid. We cannot choose option E because the question already says that an infected person may travel by air all across the globe before any symptoms appear. Option A does not decrease the number of affected patients travelling by air but it does the second best thing - Reduces transmission from person to person within the aircraft.

I almost never argue that the answer in a textbook is wrong. But in this case I have serious doubts.[/quote]
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by VivianKerr » Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:22 pm
Here's my take on this one.

Conclusion: Influenza spreads more rapidly b/c of airplanes.

Evidence: Infected person can travel before symptoms appear & spread illness

Question Rephrase: How could air travel stop the spread of disease?

Prediction: If there was a way to make sure people who boarded were not ill, or if there was a way they couldn't spread it once on the plane.

A - Yes, this stops the spread on the plane, but could still let the ill people fly
B - Yes, this stops the ill people from flying
C - No, this only stops certain ill people from flying
D - No, hand washing doesn't prevent those already ill from flying
E - No, the passage states that people can travel before "first signs appear" so the examinations would likely be ineffective

Between A and B, my choice would be B since it prevents the ill from flying altogether and would therefore "best minimize."

Remember that the correct answer is going to be the one based on the information from the passage. The passage only gave 2 pieces of evidence: (1) sick people travel before symptoms, and (2) sick people spread illness within the cabin.

Repeated vaccinations and whether a person would reschedule/cancel travel are two issues that are not mentioned and are entirely outside the scope of the passage. Be careful not to use outside information. Follow the logic of the passage.
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by ChessWriter » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:52 am
In my limited analysis of GMAT Questions, I have never come across a question that gives you erroneous facts. Whenever they give you facts that are wrong, it is clearly labelled as a hypothetical fact. For example, the question statement begins with "Which of these if true" when wrong facts are among the answer options. In such cases we must accept the wrong fact as being correct.

Experts, what do you think? Does GMAT give you facts that are wrong without labelling them as wrong/hypothetical/speculative/opinion etc..?
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:10 pm
Received a PM on this one.

Chesswriter - OFFICIAL GMAT questions do use correct facts. The same with the LSAT. Yet, unofficial questions do not have the same level of scrutiny. I have written several questions with "facts" that were either possibly or definitely inaccurate.

You must not attack the facts given.

You must accept the facts as true. Even if they tell you that spiders have 3 legs.

I understand that you have specific knowledge concerning medicine and that this knowledge is hard-won. So you would like to use it!

However, we all must put away our outside knowledge. Concentrate on the link between the "facts" and the conclusion.

If flu vaccines really did protect then B would be a good answer. Better than A, which does no prevent someone a plane with the Super Flu and spreading it world wide.
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by lunarpower » Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:30 am
i received a pm on this one, but it appears that david and vivian have already sewn it up quite well. i don't have much to add beyond what they wrote.
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