On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made: 1. People who are obsessed with personal hygiene tend to ignore the community hygiene. 2. Emergence of multi-drug resistant germs can be prevented by personal cleanliness. 3. Entry of the market in the domain of hygiene increases the risk of infectious diseases. 4. Scientific and micro-level interventions are not sufficient to bring down the burden of infectious diseases. 5. It is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the battle against infectious diseases. Which of the above assumptions are valid?

Passage

A social and physical environment riddled with poverty, inequities, unhygienic and insanitary conditions generates the risk of infectious diseases. Hygiene has different levels: personal, domestic and community hygiene. There is no doubt that personal cleanliness brings down the rate of infectious diseases. But the entry of the market into this domain has created a false sense of security that gets conditioned and reinforced by the onslaught of advertisements. Experience in Western Europe shows that along with personal hygiene, general improvements in environmental conditions and components like clean water, sanitation and food security have brought down infant/child death/infections rates considerably. The obsession with hand hygiene also brings in the persisting influence of the market on personal health, overriding or marginalizing the negative impact on ecology and the emergence of resistant germs.

QUESTION

CSAT

Easy

Comprehension

Prelims 2021

On the basis of the passage given above, the following assumptions have been made:

People who are obsessed with personal hygiene tend to ignore the community hygiene.
Emergence of multi-drug resistant germs can be prevented by personal cleanliness.
Entry of the market in the domain of hygiene increases the risk of infectious diseases.
Scientific and micro-level interventions are not sufficient to bring down the burden of infectious diseases.
It is community hygiene implemented through public health measures that is really effective in the battle against infectious diseases.

Which of the above assumptions are valid?

Select an option to attempt

Explanation

Option A is incorrect: Statement 1 is an extreme statement and the passage does not establish the fact that the people obsessed with personal hygiene tend to ignore community hygiene. Further, there is no mention of multi-drug resistant germs rather resistant germs which cannot be prevented from just personal hygiene. Thus Statement 2 stands an invalid assumption.

Option B is incorrect: It can be inferred from the passage that personal hygiene undoubtedly reduces the rate of infectious diseases. Further, the entry of the market in this domain has created a false sense of security; it cannot be established that it increases the risk of infectious diseases per se. Hence, statement 3 stands as an invalid assumption.

Option C is correct: Experiences from western Europe have established the direct role of community hygiene through public measures effective in reducing infectious diseases and death rates. Hence Statement 5 stands a valid assumption. Scientific and micro-level interventions referring to personal and domestic hygiene not sufficient to bring down the burden of diseases can be directly inferred from the essence of the passage. Thus statement 4 stands a valid assumption.

Option D is incorrect: Based on the above deductions, statements 1 and 2 stand eliminated leading to this option being incorrect though statement 4 stands as a valid assumption.

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