LSAT 129 – Section 3 – Question 11

LSAT 129 - Section 3 - Question 11

June 2009

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT129 S3 Q11
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
80%
166
B
4%
159
C
4%
160
D
5%
159
E
6%
158
139
150
160
 +Medium 146.07 +SubsectionMedium

Many vaccines create immunity to viral diseases by introducing a certain portion of the disease-causing virus’s outer coating into the body. Exposure to that part of a virus is as effective as exposure to the whole virus in stimulating production of antibodies that will subsequently recognize and kill the whole virus. To create a successful vaccine of this type, doctors must first isolate in the disease-causing virus a portion that stimulates antibody production. Now that a suitable portion of the virus that causes hepatitis E has been isolated, doctors claim they can produce a vaccine that will produce permanent immunity to that disease.

Summarize Argument
Doctors claim that they can create a vaccine providing permanent immunity to hepatitis E. This is because a suitable portion of the virus behind hepatitis E has been isolated, which is necessary for creating a vaccine.

Notable Assumptions
The doctors assume that isolating the virus behind hepatitis E is sufficient for creating a vaccine providing permanent immunity to the disease. This means the doctors don’t believe other relevant factors will pose significant challenges towards creating the vaccine, and that any given vaccine can actually provide “permanent immunity.”

A
Most of the people who contract hepatitis E are young adults who were probably exposed to the virus in childhood also.
People who contract hepatitis E have already been exposed to the virus, which means they should’ve gained the benefits the vaccine would provide. They evidently haven’t gained that benefit, which suggests the vaccine is unlikely to provide “permanent immunity.”
B
Some laboratory animals exposed to one strain of the hepatitis virus developed immunity to all strains of the virus.
The doctors never make claims about different strains of hepatitis.
C
Researchers developed a successful vaccine for another strain of hepatitis, hepatitis B, after first isolating the virus that causes it.
Hepatitis vaccines can indeed be developed from isolated viruses. If anything, this supports the doctors’ claim.
D
The virus that causes hepatitis E is very common in some areas, so the number of people exposed to that virus is likely to be quite high in those areas.
We don’t care how widespread the virus is. We only care whether a vaccine can be produced from the isolated virus.
E
Many children who are exposed to viruses that cause childhood diseases such as chicken pox never develop those diseases.
Since vaccines are just exposure to viruses, all this tells us is that vaccines seem to work.

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LSAT PrepTest 129 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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