LR Question 7 Explanation, by LSATHacks
QUESTION TEXT: The cause of the epidemic that devastated Athens in 430…
QUESTION TYPE: Weaken – Exception
CONCLUSION: The Ebola virus caused the plague in Athens in 430 B.C.
REASONING: The plague in Athens caused hiccups. The only disease that we know of that causes hiccups is the Ebola virus. The ancient plague shared some other symptoms with Ebola.
ANALYSIS: The fact that the two diseases shared symptoms doesn’t tell us much. Lots of diseases share symptoms.
The fact that both diseases caused hiccups sounds like stronger evidence, but it’s possible that there is more than one disease that causes hiccups. We just may not have discovered that other disease.
It may be that the other disease caused the plague, but then it disappeared over time. That would explain why we don’t know of it. Or maybe the other virus is so uncommon now that we haven’t re-discovered it.
___________
- This shows that the diseases may have been different. If they were the same then we wouldn’t expect different symptoms.
- CORRECT. Not everyone has to experience all symptoms of a disease. One common symptom of Ebola and the Athenian plague was: death. It doesn’t matter that not everybody died, as long as some people died. Same with hiccups.
- This makes it difficult to see how the Ebola virus could have spread to Athens.
- Contagiousness is a major difference between diseases. This supports the idea that another disease caused the Athenian plague.
- This is a big difference between the two diseases.
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But even B…weakens the argument. If not all who have ebola get hiccups then that means there may be a different source of the 450 BC plague and not Ebola as they thought. Please help…cause I thought all the answers weaked the argument.
Not *everyone* who gets a disease has *all* the symptoms. Lots of things in life aren’t all or nothing. The key point is that as far as we know, Ebola is the only possible cause of hiccups.
Effect (hiccups) without cause (ebola) it seems. This one was rough for me.. even with the wrong answer choice explanations. Luckily the follow-up comments helped to clarify. Thanks!
The only thing that tripped me with this question was answer C. Even though the host animal did not live in Athens, could it not be the case that the disease was carried there by some other means nonetheless? I mean that isn’t that much of a far fetched assumption.
Hi Matt,
The fact that the question specifically says “which of the following IF TRUE” allows us to infer that at the very least, the Ebola virus HAS host animals and can be transmitted by animals. Even if animals aren’t the ONLY way the virus an be transmitted, the lack of viable host animals in the area does weaken the argument. It doesn’t destroy the argument, but it does weaken it.
So you’re right – the virus could have been carried another way – perhaps by a human traveler – just as we’ve seen happen this past year, but (C) must be eliminated nonetheless.
Hope that helps!