Cause & Effect — Public health actions vs biomedical advances. I. The municipal corporation has ordered intensive insecticide fogging in all city wards. II. Dengue can now be prevented by a vaccine developed by the Immunology Institute of India.

Verbal Reasoning Cause and Effect Difficulty: Medium
Choose an option
  • A
    If I is the immediate cause and II is its effect.
  • B
    If II is the immediate cause and I is its effect.
  • C
    If I is the effect but II is not its direct/immediate cause.
  • D
    If II is the effect but I is not its direct/immediate cause.
  • E
    None of these

Answer

Correct Answer: If I is the effect but II is not its direct/immediate cause.

Explanation

Introduction / Context:Two different disease-control approaches appear: vector control (fogging) and vaccination. We must decide whether one directly causes the other or whether they are independent lines of action.

Given Data / Assumptions:

  • I: Citywide fogging order to reduce mosquito populations.
  • II: A dengue-preventive vaccine is available.
  • No statement links the vaccine's availability to the fogging order.

Concept / Approach:Fogging is typically a response to local transmission risk (vector abundance or outbreak). The existence of a vaccine does not directly cause a city to fog; if anything, vaccine availability might reduce reliance on fogging over time, not trigger it.

Step-by-Step Solution:

1) Evaluate II → I: Vaccine availability causing fogging is counterintuitive; fogging responds to vectors, not to the advent of vaccines.2) Evaluate I → II: Fogging orders do not cause the development of a vaccine.3) Most consistent reading: I is an effect (of local epidemiology), but not caused by II.

Verification / Alternative check:Imagine outbreak conditions: fogging would be ordered regardless of whether a vaccine exists; thus I is not an effect of II.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:A/B invent cross-causation; D inverts without basis; “None” is less precise than C.

Common Pitfalls:Assuming all health measures are causally linked rather than parallel responses to risk.

Final Answer:If I is the effect but II is not its direct/immediate cause.

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