The passage suggests that Colwell most likely holds which one of the following views regarding V. cholerae?
Ceci_Perezon December 17, 2020
Why does the correct answer choice (D) rely on an assumption about Colwell's beliefs about the outcome of a hypothetical test when there is another choice (A) that is much more directly supported by the passage?
(D) appears to refer to lines 12-25, jumping off of Colwell's claim about isolating V. cholerae in the Chesapeake Bay. In essence, (D) says that Colwell would most likely believe that the new detection technique would have revealed the presence of V. cholerae had it been used to test the water sample from the Chesapeake Bay.
It certainly makes sense that Colwell would be likely to hold this view, given her claim about isolating the bacteria in the Chesapeake Bay. However, the water from the Chesapeake Bay was never tested with the new technique. Therefore, (D) requires you to make an inference about a hypothetical scenario.
Choice (A), on the other hand, appears to be directly supported by the passage:
(A) In most cases, V. cholerae bacteria do not travel to new locations via human hosts but rather move through the ocean.
Line 20 says, "But, noting that most historic cholera outbreaks have happened along seacoasts, Colwell suspected that V. cholerae could somehow survive in seawater.."
In short, if this is a must be true question, why is the correct answer (D) - which requires speculating on the author's opinion on a hypothetical scenario - and not (A), which is supported directly by the statement that "most historic cholera outbreaks have happened along seacoasts" (i.e., that V. cholerae travel to new locations through the ocean, not on land via human hosts)?
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I could be completely wrong, but this is how I worked to arrive at D instead of A.
Question: The passage suggests that Colwell most likely holds which one of the following views regarding V. cholerae?
A states that: "In most cases, V. cholerae bacteria do not travel to new locations via human hosts, but rather move through the ocean." - this does not have to be true. The author in fact never discounts that bacteria does not travel to new locations via human hosts. In fact, it states that this outbreak happened in New Orleans with people (human hosts) who had eaten the crab from the Bayous (Line26-30).
I could also be wrong in saying this, but I don’t think this is a must be true question. Since the question asks us which answer choice “ ‘suggests’ that Colwell ‘most likely’ holds which one of the following ‘views’ regarding V. Cholerae” . Since her views are not explicitly written out, it is safe for us to assume that (D) Through her new detection system, if this bacteria IS in fact able to survive in seawater- we can assume that the water samples she obtained from the Chesapeake Bay would have revealed the presence of V. cholerae.
If my thinking above is correct, I would also just like some clarification why we cannot assume that she would hold the same views regarding coastal regions throughout Asia?
Emil-Kunkinon September 29, 2022
I would agree with this. She does not have to think that cholera does not travel through human hosts, but rather, that they can also exist in seawater. We do have good support for D, we know that she suspected cholera existed in the Chesapeake but struggled to culture it, and that afterwards she invented her antibody method. So, it is highly likely she thinks the antibody method would have worked had she invented it in time of the Chesapeake cholera.
