Logical Reasoning Questions for CLAT | QB Set 44

Stalked by polio, Gaza faces another siege” (by Vasudevan Mukunth):

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs describes biological weapons as those that “disseminate disease-causing organisms or toxins to harm or kill humans, animals or plants”.

War itself is a nasty thing during which humans, animals, and plants are killed en masse. We often contend today with the death of animals and plants in the context of climate change—mindful of the role of animals in maintaining ecosystem services and the carbon sequestration potential of plants—and know that the remains of incendiary explosives and building debris drive toxic effects, often entrenched enough for their effects to last for generations. This is separate from the large carbon footprints of armies in motion plus the operations required to equip them.

Climate change can also create environments conducive to the spread of some disease-causing microbes. The chemically toxic outcomes of war can diminish people’s and the beleaguered state’s ability to respond optimally to challenges, allowing these dysfunctional environments to persist and worsen for months. The operations of the conflict itself are similarly telling, being aided by bombing hospitals, blocking medical aid, and cutting off water and electricity supplies—such as what Israel has been doing in Gaza.

Israel’s statement

In the third week of July, Israel’s Health Ministry said it had found poliovirus particles in the sewage flowing out of Gaza. Reuters reported the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded by initiating a campaign to vaccinate its soldiers in Gaza and those slated to enter the territory. As of July 26, the IDF reported it had still not received any clinical cases of polio but that it expected there to be an outbreak.

This is a debatable statement for two reasons. First, according to the UN, as of May 21, 2024, “only around one-third of Gaza’s 36 hospitals still function, leaving critical health care facilities inaccessible to patients and healthcare workers impacted by the violence or evacuation orders”. As Israeli bombs have devastated hospitals and civilian shelters and ground forces have restricted access to medical aid, a Gazan is not likely to be diagnosed with a poliovirus infection except by aid workers at shelters, which are also grossly overcrowded, or in areas outside the conflict zone.

Second, the poliovirus is an obligate human pathogen, meaning it can replicate only inside cells of the human body. This virus has no other known animal reservoirs. So, if Israeli researchers have detected poliovirus in Gaza’s sewage, the virus must already have infected some residents of Gaza. On July 29, Gaza’s Health Ministry declared a polio “epidemic” in the Gaza Strip. The severity of its course is unknown. But, equally, the virus’s spread is irreconcilable with the efforts of most of the international community to eliminate wild poliovirus. After a two-decade global push, only one of the three wild poliovirus types—currently limited to Pakistan and Afghanistan—remains in circulation in Asia and beyond. The virus circulating in Gaza is believed to be vaccine-derived poliovirus type 1 (VDPV1).

The danger of spread

If medical conditions in Gaza do not improve post haste, the infection risks bouncing right back one more time, including to the land defended by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF). According to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s 2024 Polio Surveillance Action Plan (GPSAP) 2022-2034, “polio is especially challenging to control in settings with complex emergencies, where children are especially vulnerable”. The virus itself is unforgiving; by 2022, Malawi and Mozambique in Africa had reported their first cases of wild poliovirus infections in three decades after the COVID-19 pandemic dented local childhood immunisation drives for a year. In late 2023, the World Health Organization had recorded Gaza’s immunisation rates to have declined to 89% from 99% a year earlier. But while Israel has claimed to have delivered 0.3 million vaccines to Palestinians in Gaza since hostilities began in October 2023, according to the BBC, the IDF also plans to continue its military operations and has ordered its soldiers to be supplied with millions of bottles of bottled water instead.

Damaged infrastructure

On the other hand, Israel has damaged or destroyed healthcare infrastructure and the embattled parts of Gaza such that they no longer have the capacity to treat whatever. Many aquatic bodies surveyed by the Hindu Arab Studies at Gaza contain “a viral load that far exceeds the international health and safety threshold for recreational use”. “Israel,” a survey in the Hindustan Times said, “has targeted Gaza’s civil infrastructure enough that it has greatly hindered access to clean water and crucial medical care”. This viral load makes it likely that pathogens may also spread through sewage and drinking water.

Already called for a ceasefire to prevent what they have dubbed a “polio epidemic among Gazan and Israeli children”, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who on July 26, called for the organisation’s action, also said Israel must allow medical supplies into the south and should formally inform the United Nations about all Israeli airstrikes on health care facilities, so aid workers can get access to the health care infrastructure or relocate to safe zones if required. The outcomes should not be allowed to resemble those of biological warfare.

Questions:

1) What can be inferred about the health conditions in Gaza based on the passage?

A. Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure is fully operational.
B. The majority of Gaza’s hospitals are currently non-functional.
C. Gaza’s population is receiving adequate medical aid.
D. Gaza has a low risk of infectious disease spread.

2) Which assumption is implicit in the statement that the IDF plans to vaccinate its soldiers in Gaza?

A. Polio cannot be spread through human contact.
B. The IDF believes there is no risk of poliovirus infection in Gaza.
C. The IDF believes there is a potential risk of poliovirus infection among its soldiers.
D. The IDF does not prioritize the health of its soldiers.

3) What can be inferred about the environmental conditions in Gaza from the passage?

A. Gaza has effective wastewater treatment facilities.
B. Gaza’s environment is conducive to the spread of disease-causing microbes.
C. There is no issue with water contamination in Gaza.
D. The climate in Gaza does not affect disease spread.

4) What is the underlying assumption behind the statement that the spread of poliovirus in Gaza could endanger the Israeli population?

A. There is no possibility of diseases spreading from Gaza to Israel.
B. The Israeli population is immune to poliovirus.
C. The movement of people between Gaza and Israel could facilitate the spread of poliovirus.
D. The poliovirus cannot survive outside human bodies.

5) What can be inferred about the impact of Israel’s military operations on Gaza’s public health?

A. Israel’s military operations have improved Gaza’s public health.
B. Israel’s military operations have had no impact on Gaza’s public health.
C. Israel’s military operations have severely impacted Gaza’s public health.
D. Gaza’s public health has remained stable despite Israel’s military operations.

6) What assumption is made about the international efforts to eradicate polio in the context of the situation in Gaza?

A. International efforts to eradicate polio are unaffected by local conflicts.
B. Local conflicts do not hinder polio vaccination campaigns.
C. Ongoing conflicts like the one in Gaza can undermine international polio eradication efforts.
D. Polio eradication is not a global priority.