Mastitis is an infection of the udder in cows that, although not

Question

Which of the following most logically completes the argument below?

Mastitis is an infection of the udder in cows that, although not dangerous, causes them to give poor-quality milk. Most cases of mastitis are caused by the bacterium  Staphylococcus aureu s, against which antibiotics are ineffective. However, a related bacterium,  Staphylococcus simulans , quickly clears up even severe infections of  S. aureus  simply by displacing the bacteria.  S. simulans  is nevertheless unlikely to become the preferred treatment for cases of mastitis, since ________.

(A) certain dangerous bacteria that normally cannot take hold can do so in the presence of  S. simulans .

(B) the current resistance of  S. aureus  to antibiotics derives in part from a past pattern of overuse of those antibiotics

(C) the milk from cows infected with  S. aureus  is generally not of such poor quality as to be entirely unusable

(D) careful farming practice can reduce the incidence of mastitis to a minimum

(E) the only symptom of mild cases of mastitis is the deterioration in the quality of the milk produced

younggun044 · Answer

B,C,D,E can be ruled out as it does not mentioned an reason related to S.simuns and the reasoning is not sufficient for ruling out the usage of this bacteria.
So I think its " A "

12345678 · Answer

i think by poe its B

A-supports
C- not mentioned
D-out of scope
E-irrelevant

beckee529 · Answer

this is asking us to find another premise that will support the conclusion that S.S. (Staphylococcus simulans) will not be ideal treatment for mastitis (bact Staphylococcus aureus)

I got B for the answer based on the following reasoning:

A) actually says that S.S. is effective so counters the conclusion that S.S. will not be preferred treatment

B) shows why S.S. would not be a good treatment - that the bacterium Staph aureus becomes resistant to the overuse of antibiotics

C), D), and E) are not relevant to the conclusion and out of scope

beckee529 · Answer

thanks Sachu.. I misinterpreted the stem! It helps to list out the reasoning so others can critique and one can learn rather than just listing an answer..That's what I get for multi-tasking while trying to study =P

GMATBLACKBELT · Answer

Clear A. 

We need to find a reason why S Simulans is not going to be used.

B: irrelevant. We don't care about antibiotics in this case b/c we are trying to find a reason why SS is not going to be used to eliminate masitis.
C. irrelevant.
D. may suggest an alternative way instead of using SS, but doesn't explain why using this is better than SS.
E. Irrelevant.

younggun044 · Answer

I agree with sachu...so can the author of this post declare the OA??

WaterFlowsUp · Answer

for the last 8 years no one touched upon this one. Bumping up

JarvisR · Answer

Mastitis is an infection of the udder in cows that, although not dangerous, causes them to give poor-quality milk. 
Most cases of mastitis are caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, against which antibiotics are ineffective. However, a related bacterium, Staphylococcus simulans, quickly clears up even severe infections of S. aureus simply by displacing the bacteria. S. simulans is nevertheless unlikely to become the preferred treatment for cases of mastitis, since ....

Gist of the arg:
SA can't be treated by antibiotic but SS can fix it by displacing SA bacteria. However SS is unlikely to become the preferred treatment.
Now to solve this discrepancy, we need to find an option that shows that SS has its own disadvantages. This is were A wins.
  
 A. certain dangerous bacteria that normally cannot take hold can do so in the presence of S. simulans.
 B. the current resistance of S. aureus to antibiotics derives in part from a past pattern of overuse of those antibiotics
C. the milk from cows infected with S. aureus is generally not of such poor quality as to be entirely unusable
D. careful farming practice can reduce the incidence of mastitis to a minimum
E. the only symptom of mild cases of mastitis is the deterioration in the quality of the milk Produced

manishkhare · Answer

S. simulans is nevertheless unlikely to become the preferred treatment for cases of mastitis, since ....

We need to find the disadvantage of using S. simulans as the preferred treatment. 
Option (A) provides the disadvantage and is the correct choice.

Regards,
Manish Khare

Press Kudos if you like the solution.

2016MBAcandidate · Answer

Conclusion:SS cannot be used even though it can can remove SA.

We need to find a disadvantage of SS.Clearly,A is the only option that gives the drawback of SS

Nunuboy1994 · Answer

The trick to many of these types of questions is to not exhaust yourself thinking outside the scope of the stimulus, and simply find the most direct reason why S.aureus itself is bad. Which of these answer choices posits something bad about "simulans"- A

VKat · Answer

Hello Expert,

Why answer is not c?

GMATNinja · Answer

Choice (C) does not resolve the apparent discrepancy. If S. aureus causes cows to give poor-quality milk and S. simulans quickly clears up even severe infections of S. aureus, why not use S. simulans as a treatment?

Choice (C) tells us that the milk from cows infected with S. aureus is not  entirely unusable , but that still means that at least some of the milk is unusable. If that is the case, and S. simulans clears up infections of S aureus, why not use S. simulans as a treatment so that all of the milk is usable? Only choice (A) explains this apparent discrepancy.

brianmontanaweb · Answer

The conclusion focuses on S Simulans, so the following sentence should continue that logical flow.

B and C can be eliminated since both options only mention S Aureus

D is out of scope to the argument

E doesn't focus on S Simulans at all, but mentions other solutions, incorrect.

A mentions S Simulans and confirms what happens if S Simulans is used as a solution. Correct!

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot: 

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

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Mastitis is an infection of the udder in cows that, although not

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Mastitis is an infection of the udder in cows that, although not

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