Outbreaks of rift valley

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Outbreaks of rift valley

by nlpfollower » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:29 am
Outbreaks of rift valley occur irregularly in east africa, several years apart. When the outbreaks do occur, they kill thousands of cattle. A livestock vaccine against the disease exists but is rarely used. It is too expensive for farmer to use routinely, and since it is not effective untill a month after vaccination, administtering it after an outbreak begins helps very little. Nevertheless, experts predict that use of the vaccine will increase significantly withing the next few years.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest justification for the experts' prediction?

Rift Valley fever is spread by mosquitos, but each outbreak is so widespread that it is impractical to control it by using insecticides.

When an outbreak of Rift Valley fever occurs, unaffected countries often refuse to import livestock from the countries affected by the outbreak.

It would take less than a month for producers of the vaccine to adjust their production operations to cope with a large increase in demand.

Many cattle farmers in East Africa are nomadic or live in remote villages, and such farmers, who have little access to modern veterinary medicine, are particularly hard hit by the outbreaks of Rift Valley fever.

Recently published research has shown that certain identifiable climatic conditions are almost invariably followed, within two to five months, by an outbreak of Rift Valley fever.

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I came across the above question while giving the GMATPrep practise test 1. the answer to the above question is the last option. I need some help in understanding why it is so, and why the other options are not the right answer choices.

thanks in advance!
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by chetanc » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:36 am
IMO B...

What is the OA and the source?

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by gmatmachoman » Wed Feb 24, 2010 1:54 am
This one is as good as LSAT Needless to say its tuf!!

My understanding is :

For the growth of Outbreak of Rift valley fever, there should be a "common/ uniform factor being followed to propel the growth of outbreak/spread of fever.

E says that even the impact of vaccine cannot take place with in one month, since the effect of fever is going to continue for next 2- 5 months, people are advised to control the spreading of the fever.

E gives a hint that vaccination may not be helpful immediately ( say with in 1 month) but after 2 months vaccination shall help to control the outbreak.

The usage of "climatic conditions" is to bring a common environment where the application of vaccine may yield profitable results.

Actually E tries to remove the alternate cause that No change in the climatic environment that may hamper the effectiveness of vaccination!!

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by max37274 » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:07 am
Outbreaks of rift valley occur irregularly in east africa, several years apart. When the outbreaks do occur, they kill thousands of cattle. A livestock vaccine against the disease exists but is rarely used. It is too expensive for farmer to use routinely, and since it is not effective untill a month after vaccination, administtering it after an outbreak begins helps very little. Nevertheless, experts predict that use of the vaccine will increase significantly withing the next few years.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest justification for the experts' prediction?

Rift Valley fever is spread by mosquitos, but each outbreak is so widespread that it is impractical to control it by using insecticides.

When an outbreak of Rift Valley fever occurs, unaffected countries often refuse to import livestock from the countries affected by the outbreak.

It would take less than a month for producers of the vaccine to adjust their production operations to cope with a large increase in demand.

Many cattle farmers in East Africa are nomadic or live in remote villages, and such farmers, who have little access to modern veterinary medicine, are particularly hard hit by the outbreaks of Rift Valley fever.

Recently published research has shown that certain identifiable climatic conditions are almost invariably followed, within two to five months, by an outbreak of Rift Valley fever.
Argument says that 1. Rift valley disease irregular (CANNOT BE PREDICTED)
2. Vaccination is effective one month after being imparted
If by looking at climatic conditions, one can predict the disease 5 months in advance, irregularity factor is removed and people can vaccinate their animal in the 4thmonth. hope it helps!!!

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by gmatmachoman » Wed Feb 24, 2010 2:35 am
max37274 wrote:Outbreaks of rift valley occur irregularly in east africa, several years apart. When the outbreaks do occur, they kill thousands of cattle. A livestock vaccine against the disease exists but is rarely used. It is too expensive for farmer to use routinely, and since it is not effective untill a month after vaccination, administtering it after an outbreak begins helps very little. Nevertheless, experts predict that use of the vaccine will increase significantly withing the next few years.

Which of the following, if true, provides the strongest justification for the experts' prediction?

Rift Valley fever is spread by mosquitos, but each outbreak is so widespread that it is impractical to control it by using insecticides.

When an outbreak of Rift Valley fever occurs, unaffected countries often refuse to import livestock from the countries affected by the outbreak.

It would take less than a month for producers of the vaccine to adjust their production operations to cope with a large increase in demand.

Many cattle farmers in East Africa are nomadic or live in remote villages, and such farmers, who have little access to modern veterinary medicine, are particularly hard hit by the outbreaks of Rift Valley fever.

Recently published research has shown that certain identifiable climatic conditions are almost invariably followed, within two to five months, by an outbreak of Rift Valley fever.


Argument says that 1. Rift valley disease irregular (CANNOT BE PREDICTED)
2. Vaccination is effective one month after being imparted
If by looking at climatic conditions, one can predict the disease 5 months in advance, irregularity factor is removed and people can vaccinate their animal in the 4thmonth. hope it helps!!!
I am not convinced with ur reasoning Boss!! Plz go thru the options once again!

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by harshavardhanc » Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:29 am
gmatmachoman wrote:This one is as good as LSAT Needless to say its tuf!!

My understanding is :

For the growth of Outbreak of Rift valley fever, there should be a "common/ uniform factor being followed to propel the growth of outbreak/spread of fever.

E says that even the impact of vaccine cannot take place with in one month, since the effect of fever is going to continue for next 2- 5 months, people are advised to control the spreading of the fever.

E gives a hint that vaccination may not be helpful immediately ( say with in 1 month) but after 2 months vaccination shall help to control the outbreak.

The usage of "climatic conditions" is to bring a common environment where the application of vaccine may yield profitable results.

Actually E tries to remove the alternate cause that No change in the climatic environment that may hamper the effectiveness of vaccination!!
IMO, this isn't why E justifies the prediction.


Observe that the stimulus says that giving the vaccine after the outbreak helps little as vaccine takes a month to take effect.

Now, you have to give vaccine after the outbreak because there is no means to know beforehand : "when will the outbreak happen ? "


Per option E, there are indicators which give heads-up for the outbreak. Moreover, the lead /buffer time between the indications and the actual outbreak is more than what it takes for the vaccine to show its effect.


Simply put, unlike before, now you can definitely predict when an outbreak will happen and you can effectively vaccinate your cattle against the disease. Hence, it now makes sense to buy the vaccine.
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by kstv » Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:04 am
The conclusion has a time factor in it within the next five years. Why within the next five years ?

In option E
Recently published research has shown that certain identifiable climatic conditions are almost invariably followed, within two to five months, by an outbreak of Rift Valley fever.
Probably, this knowledge will be used to predict the outbreak and inoculate the cattle in future
The weak point is that the vaccine is expensive. But still not sufficient to rule out.

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by Testluv » Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:18 am
Choice E is correct, and max's reasoning is good.

We know from the stimulus that outbreaks occur irregularly, and that the vaccine protects the animals only one month after vaccination. The expert's prediction is that now usage of the vaccine will increase. Choice E informs us that RECENT research shows that certain climatic conditions invariably precede by several months onset of the outbreaks. If this is true, then farmers now know when to administer the vaccine, and so its usage should increase (despite the fact that it is costly).
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by nlpfollower » Sun Feb 28, 2010 7:55 pm
That was helpful. Thanks.

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by ssgmatter » Sat May 22, 2010 6:37 am
Testluv wrote:Choice E is correct, and max's reasoning is good.

We know from the stimulus that outbreaks occur irregularly, and that the vaccine protects the animals only one month after vaccination. The expert's prediction is that now usage of the vaccine will increase. Choice E informs us that RECENT research shows that certain climatic conditions invariably precede by several months onset of the outbreaks. If this is true, then farmers now know when to administer the vaccine, and so its usage should increase (despite the fact that it is costly).
Hi Testluv,

I understand that E is the only one that makes the most sense of all the options.

However please explain the meaning of the sentence since it is not effective untill a month after vaccination, administtering it after an outbreak begins helps very little.

I am really confused here..
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by paes » Sun May 23, 2010 10:36 pm
Testluv wrote:Choice E is correct, and max's reasoning is good.

We know from the stimulus that outbreaks occur irregularly, and that the vaccine protects the animals only one month after vaccination. The expert's prediction is that now usage of the vaccine will increase. Choice E informs us that RECENT research shows that certain climatic conditions invariably precede by several months onset of the outbreaks. If this is true, then farmers now know when to administer the vaccine, and so its usage should increase (despite the fact that it is costly).
There can be 2 meaning of E
1. The climate conditions are followed before the outbreak
2. the climate conditionas are followed after the outbreak.

If we take the meaning as 1, then E justifies the answer.
If we take the meaning as 2, then E doesn't justify the answer.

Can you please explain how E is pointing to 1 ?

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by paes » Sun May 23, 2010 10:39 pm
ssgmatter wrote:
Testluv wrote:Choice E is correct, and max's reasoning is good.

We know from the stimulus that outbreaks occur irregularly, and that the vaccine protects the animals only one month after vaccination. The expert's prediction is that now usage of the vaccine will increase. Choice E informs us that RECENT research shows that certain climatic conditions invariably precede by several months onset of the outbreaks. If this is true, then farmers now know when to administer the vaccine, and so its usage should increase (despite the fact that it is costly).
Hi Testluv,

I understand that E is the only one that makes the most sense of all the options.

However please explain the meaning of the sentence since it is not effective untill a month after vaccination, administtering it after an outbreak begins helps very little.

I am really confused here..
It means that : once you get vaccination then it will take al least 1 month to be effective. So suppose outbreak happens and then you take the vaccination -> it will take another 1 month