Several people came down with an illness caused by a type of bacteria

PowerScore Complete Question Explanation

Resolve the Paradox-CE. The correct answer choice is (E)

The author of this stimulus provides several facts regarding an outbreak of an illness caused by seafood bacteria, each case of which was traced back to the same restaurant at the same time. The paradox is this:

........................Most of that restaurant’s seafood diners did not come into contact with the bacteria.

........................Yet officials remained confident that the source of the bacteria was the restaurant.

The question stem requires us to find the answer choice which is consistent with both of the above premises; it will be the choice which somehow allows the officials to think that the bacteria came from the restaurant, in spite of so many of the restaurant diners’ having been spared exposure.

Answer choice (A): Immunity would not explain the apparent discrepancy between the confidence that the restaurant in question was the source of the bacteria, and the fact that many of the restaurant’s diners were not simply spared from the illness, they did not come into contact with the bacteria.

Answer choice (B): The officials referenced in the stimulus were confident that the restaurant’s contaminated seafood was the source—not a waiter—so this answer choice does nothing to resolve the discrepancy and is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): An allergy to the sauce is irrelevant to the stimulus, given the fact that officials were confident that the source was contaminated seafood, not sauce. This choice does not help to explain the paradox from the stimulus, so it is incorrect.

Answer choice (D): This choice might make it more likely that the restaurant was the source of contamination, but does not explain how the restaurant could be the source without the majority of its diners having been exposed to the bacteria.

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice. If a particular seafood dish at the restaurant was the source of the bacteria, then it would make that most seafood diners (those who did not have the contaminated dish in particular) would not have come into contact with the bacteria at all. Because this choice resolves the paradox from the stimulus, it is the correct answer choice.