LSAT 154 | Section 3 | Reading Comprehension: Q17

RC Question 17 Explanation

DISCUSSION: This question also requires us to make an inference. Why is V. cholerae undetectable in a culture? Because it’s dormant. Why is V. cholerae dormant? Because the environment isn’t right for them to awaken. In other words:

If environment is right ➔ bacteria awakens

Thus, if V. cholerae caused cholera in humans, that means that the bacterium awakened. This means that the human body is the right environment for the bacterium to awaken.

___________

1. We don’t know what human antibodies “usually latch onto” V. cholerae’s membrane.
2. We don’t know this. We only know that temperature change can awaken the bacteria, but change can mean getting hotter or colder. So it could be that negative temperatures awaken the bacteria, which is very different from the human body’s temperature.
3. We don’t know this.
4. We don’t know this.
5. CORRECT. If the human body is the right environment, then V. cholerae can awaken.