Q25

[alinanny]

I have a bit of a problem with this question. Answers C D and E can be eliminated right away but the fact that A is true despite it not being a reason why is unlikely that rhinoviruses are especially virulent.
I came to an agreement with myself that the question was wrong because even if the patient is incapacitated for long enough to reproduce extensively to pass directly to another host, even if a few of the pathogens (please forgive my ignorance but I assume there is more than one tiny virus hanging around) is able to survive long enough for a person to transmited even after getting better. For example by direct contact with an object that someone else uses later then the pathogen can go an invade another host.
Does anyone have a better explanation.
thank you in advance!

[tamwaiman]

I think that if the rhinoviruses immobilize their host before the transmission, they would die(L26-28) because their life span is very short (L57-58); it is why (A) is incorrect for me.

[legalrabbithole]

I was stuck between A and B... in hindsight I can see why A is definitely wrong. Let me see if I can articulate why.

(A) refers to lines 24-30, which describe a "what if" case where the rhinovirus makes the host so sick that they stay home. The author then makes a VERY subtle point by saying that this "what if" case does NOT happen in real life because the rhinovirus would die out if this actually happened.

(A) plays with the wording to make it seem like the "what if" case explains why rhinoviruses are not virulent.

Evidence for (B) is specified in lines 57-58.

[zainrizvi]

I'm confused about this answer choice.

The question asks WHY aren't they virulent.

Doesn't (A) give a pretty good reason? They immobilize their hosts before they have a chance to reproduce extensively enough to pass onto to their new hosts.

Only reason I eliminated (A) was because it seemed like a distortion of the passage, but now I'm not so sure.

[maryadkins]

The problem isn't that they immobilize before they've had a chance to reproduce enough. The problem is that they reproduce so well that people don't leave the house! People get crazy sick. If people stay home, there's no one for the virus to move to, i.e. the virus doesn't spread. (Lines 24-27.) This is why we want our co-workers who have colds to stay home. That's the phenomenon taking place here.