The Fight Against Polio Reading Answers

Below we have given The Fight Against Polio reading answers as a practice test with answers and explanations. In the total 14 questions - 7 questions as matching information, 4 questions as summary completion and 3 questions as short answer questions. Go through the given passage and answer the questions.

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Table of contents:

• Solution for the fight against polio
• The fight against polio IELTS reading practice test
• Passage
• Questions
• Answers with explanations

Solution for The Fight Against Polio Reading Answers

Answers for The Fight Against Polio reading answers, are given below in table format.

Answer Table

27. E	30. B	33. D	36. Trails	39. 70%
28. C	31. G	34. Formalin	37. Variant	40. Refugees
29. F	32. A	35. Mutation	38. Children

The Fight Against Polio Reading Answers IELTS reading practice test - Exam Review

Here The fight against polio reading answers passage is given below to enhance your reading skill. Along with a practice section which may help you to enrich your answering skill. 

Passage

Here we have given The Fight Against Polio reading answers with location. Go through the passage completely and answer the questions.

The Fight Against Polio reading answers

Paragraph A
The poliovirus is one of the smallest and simplest viruses. It is usually spread by just dirty fingers and in most cases is confined to the gut. As the virus travels down the intestine, it induces the body to produce antibodies against it, which will protect the person against future attacks. In about one per cent of cases, the virus floods into the bloodstream and infects the nerve cells in the spinal cord that drive the muscles. This causes the characteristic paralysis, which can affect one or more limbs and/or the muscles of respiration, in which case artificial ventilation, for example with the iron lung, may be needed to keep the patient breathing and alive. The iron lung, which was officially known as a negative pressure ventilator, was invented hundreds of years ago, but was further developed in the 1930’s to help with the world polio outbreaks. At one point, the need for iron lungs was so high that they were used with a patient within an hour of their manufacture.

Paragraph B
Polio originally caused sporadic clusters of paralysis, especially in children. For some reason, this pattern changed during the late nineteenth century into explosive epidemics, which swept through many countries each summer. The first major outbreak, on the East Coast of the USA in the summer of 1916, caused 25,000 cases of paralysis and 6,000 deaths. Draconian public health measures were powerless to prevent the spread of the disease, resulting in widespread panic across America. Each year, panic resurfaced as the polio season approached, with the wealthy leaving towns and cities in droves.

Paragraph C
This fear of polio was deliberately fuelled and exploited by the March of Dimes, an American fundraising organization set up by President Franklin D Roosevelt, himself a polio survivor. The March of Dimes raised vast sums, and funded both practical support for polio victims and their families, and the research programmes that ultimately resulted in effective polio vaccines.

Paragraph D
Polio can be prevented but not cured. Treatments proposed for patients with acute polio have included barbaric measures, such as branding the child’s back with a red-hot poker and ‘brain washout therapy’. Less dramatic were massive doses of vitamins C and chemically modified cobra venom. None of these had any impact on paralysis or survival, and some were positively dangerous. The iron lung could rescue patients from suffocation if their respiratory muscles were paralyzed, but the iron lung itself carried considerable risks. Until chest infections could be properly treated, seventy percent of patients put inside the iron lung died there.

Paragraph E
Two rival strategies were used to develop vaccines to protect against polio. Jonas Salk (1914–1998) favored an ‘inactivated polio vaccine’ (IPV), in which wild polioviruses are ‘killed’ with formalin, so that they can no longer replicate and spread into the spinal cord. IPV is injected into a muscle and causes protective antibodies to appear in the bloodstream.

The ‘oral polio vaccine’ (OPV) developed by Albert Sabin (1906–1993) relies on the fact that polioviruses forced to grow under unfavorable conditions in the laboratory will undergo mutation into forms that can no longer invade the spinal cord. The OPV virus is still ‘alive’ and able to replicate, but cannot enter the spinal cord and cause paralysis. OPV is taken by mouth and, like a wild poliovirus, induces immunity against itself in the gut wall as it travels through the intestine. It therefore provides a different type of immunity protection when compared with the Salk vaccine.

Paragraph F
Salk’s IPV was the first polio vaccine to be tested on a large scale, in massive clinical trials in 1954 involving 1.8 million American children. Following the sensational declaration that his vaccine ‘works and is safe’, Salk became a national and international hero, and mass vaccination of children with his IPV began immediately. Vaccination continued despite a tragic outbreak of paralytic (and sometimes fatal) polio due to contamination of the Salk vaccine with wild poliovirus, which was the result of carelessness in the vaccine production plant.
Numbers of paralytic cases and deaths from polio fell dramatically in the USA over the next few years, and Salk’s vaccine was taken up across the world. Sabin’s OPV, being cheaper, more effective and easier to give, later superseded the Salk vaccine. Given correctly, both vaccines protect against polio and are overwhelmingly safe. There is an exceedingly low risk (one in 500,000 vaccinations) of Sabin’s OPV reverting to a paralyzing variant, a drawback that Sabin always refused to acknowledge.

Paragraph G
Polio vaccine not only protects individuals, but, if given intensively and on a massive scale, can prevent the virus from spreading and so stamp it out. In 1988, various organizations set out to clear the planet of polio through a worldwide vaccination campaign. The hope was that polio would follow the example of smallpox, which was exterminated by intensive global vaccination during the late 1970’s.

Now, after 26 years, polio is tantalizingly close to being eradicated, with just 200 paralytic cases worldwide last year, as compared with over 300,000 in 1988. Tragically, though, endemic polio continues to cling on in three areas, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern Nigeria, largely because of anti-western ideology that is backed up by intimidation, death threats and the murder of many vaccinators and their supporters. Usually refugees, but also other travelers, have reintroduced polio to other countries, for example Syria, Lebanon and various African states, which had been previously cleared of polio.

Unfortunately, it is now very unlikely that polio will be eradicated within the next two to three years and it seems that the final extermination of the virus will depend as much on diplomacy as on medicine and science. 

Questions

Questions 27-33

• The text above has 7 paragraphs A – G.
• Which paragraph contains the following information?
• Write your answers in boxes 27-33 on your answer sheet.

27. The OPV protects people in the same way as a wild virus works in the body.
28. Panic was intentionally created in order to raise money to fight polio.
29. The OPV was more successful than the IPV at preventing polio.
30. The US polio outbreaks caused some people to move away from high population areas in the summers.
31. Extremism is one barrier to the eradication of polio.
32. Iron lungs were in great demand because of the numbers of people sick with polio.
33. One medicine used to treat polio was based on snake poison.

Questions 34-37

• Complete the summary below.
• Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the text for each answer.
• Write your answers in boxes 34-37 on your answer sheet.

THE TWO POLIO VACCINES

Salk developed one of the two anti-polio vaccines by using 34…………….. to stop the ability of the polio virus to attack the spinal cord. The vaccine’s presence after injection therefore causes the creation of antibodies. Sabin’s other vaccine uses induced 35…………….. to stop the ability of the virus to attack the spinal cord. After administration, it too creates antibodies.
After large-scale 36…………….., the IPV was declared safe and was used for vaccination in the US. Salk was a hero, despite one outbreak of polio due to a contaminated vaccine. The cheaper OPV became more popular over time. Both vaccines are effective, though there is a possible and unlikely danger of an unsafe 37…………….. developing in the IPV.

Questions 38-40

• Answer the questions below.
• Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the text for each answer.
• Write your answers in boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet.

38. What group is especially prone to the paralysis caused by polio?
39. What proportion of people did not survive treatment in the iron lung without effective chest treatment?
40. Who has been the most significant cause for the reintroduction of polio into countries where it was previously eradicated?

Answers for The Fight Against Polio with Explanation

We have given The Fight Against Polio reading answers with explanations, this section will assist you to recorrect your mistakes in the answering process.

27. Answer: E

Explanation: “The OPV virus is still ‘alive’ and able to replicate, but cannot enter the spinal cord and cause paralysis. OPV is taken by mouth and, like a wild poliovirus, induces immunity against itself in the gut wall as it travels through the intestine”. With this line it is clear that the OPV protects people in the same way as a wild virus works in the body. Hence the given answer is located in the last 4 lines of paragraph E. 

28. Answer: C

Explanation: “This fear of polio was deliberately fuelled and exploited by the March of Dimes, an American fundraising organization set up by President Franklin D Roosevelt, himself a polio survivor. The March of Dimes raised vast sums, and funded both practical support for polio victims and their families, and the research programmes that ultimately resulted in effective polio vaccines”. With this line it is clear that panic was intentionally created in order to raise money to fight polio. Hence the given answer is located in paragraph C. 

29. Answer: F

Explanation: “Numbers of paralytic cases and deaths from polio fell dramatically in the USA over the next few years, and Salk’s vaccine was taken up across the world. Sabin’s OPV, being cheaper, more effective and easier to give, later superseded the Salk vaccine. Given correctly, both vaccines protect against polio and are overwhelmingly safe. There is an exceedingly low risk (one in 500,000 vaccinations) of Sabin’s OPV reverting to a paralyzing variant, a drawback that Sabin always refused to acknowledge”. With this line it is clear that the OPV was more successful than the IPV at preventing polio. Hence the given answer is located in the last 6 lines of paragraph F. 

30. Answer: B

Explanation: “Polio originally caused sporadic clusters of paralysis, especially in children. For some reason, this pattern changed during the late nineteenth century into explosive epidemics, which swept through many countries each summer. The first major outbreak, on the East Coast of the USA in the summer of 1916, caused 25,000 cases of paralysis and 6,000 deaths. Draconian public health measures were powerless to prevent the spread of the disease, resulting in widespread panic across America. Each year, panic resurfaced as the polio season approached, with the wealthy leaving towns and cities in droves”. With this line it is clear the US polio outbreaks caused some people to move away from high population areas in the summers. Hence the given answer is located in paragraph B. 

31. Answer: G

Explanation: “Unfortunately, it is now very unlikely that polio will be eradicated within the next two to three years and it seems that the final extermination of the virus will depend as much on diplomacy as on medicine and science”. With this line it is clear that extremism is one barrier to the eradication of polio. Hence the given answer is located in the last 3 lines of paragraph G. 

32. Answer: A

Explanation: “At one point, the need for iron lungs was so high that they were used with a patient within an hour of their manufacture”. With this line it is clear that Iron lungs were in great demand because of the numbers of people sick with polio. Hence the given answer is located in the last 3 lines of paragraph A. 

33. Answer: D

Explanation: “Polio can be prevented but not cured. Treatments proposed for patients with acute polio have included barbaric measures, such as branding the child’s back with a red-hot poker and ‘brain washout therapy’. Less dramatic were massive doses of vitamins C and chemically modified cobra venom”. With this line it is clear that one medicine used to treat polio was based on snake poison. Hence the given answer is located in the first 4 lines of paragraph D. 

34. Answer: Formalin

Explanation: “Two rival strategies were used to develop vaccines to protect against polio. Jonas Salk (1914–1998) favored an ‘inactivated polio vaccine’ (IPV), in which wild polioviruses are ‘killed’ with formalin”. With this line it is clear that Salk developed one of the two anti-polio vaccines by using formalin to stop the ability of the polio virus to attack the spinal cord. Hence the given answer is located in the first 3 lines of paragraph E.

35. Answer: Mutation

Explanation: “The ‘oral polio vaccine’ (OPV) developed by Albert Sabin (1906–1993) relies on the fact that polioviruses forced to grow under unfavorable conditions in the laboratory will undergo mutation into forms that can no longer invade the spinal cord”. With this line it is clear that Sabin’s other vaccine uses induced mutation to stop the ability of the virus to attack the spinal cord. Hence the given answer is located in the 5-7 lines of paragraph E. 

36. Answer: Trials

Explanation: “Salk’s IPV was the first polio vaccine to be tested on a large scale, in massive clinical trials in 1954 involving 1.8 million American children,The cheaper OPV became more popular over time”. With this line it is clear After large-scale trials the IPV was declared safe and was used for vaccination in the US. Salk was a hero, despite one outbreak of polio due to a contaminated vaccine. Hence the given answer is located in the first 3 lines of paragraph F. 

37. Answer: Variant

Explanation: “There is an exceedingly low risk (one in 500,000 vaccinations) of Sabin’s OPV reverting to a paralyzing variant, a drawback that Sabin always refused to acknowledge”. With this line it is clear that the cheaper OPV became more popular over time. Both vaccines are effective, though there is a possible and unlikely danger of an unsafe variant developing in the IPV. Hence the given answer is located in the last 3 lines of paragraph F. 

38. Answer: Children

Explanation: “Polio originally caused sporadic clusters of paralysis, especially in children. For some reason, this pattern changed during the late nineteenth century into explosive epidemics, which swept through many countries each summer”. With this line it is clear that  especially children are prone to the paralysis caused by polio. Hence the given answer is located in the first 3 lines of paragraph B.

39. Answer: 70%

Explanation:  Until chest infections could be properly treated, seventy percent of patients put inside the iron lung died there. With this line it is clear that 70% of people did not survive treatment in the iron lung without effective chest treatment. Hence the given answer is located in the last 2 lines of paragraph D. 

40. Answer: Refugees

Explanation: “Usually refugees, but also other travelers, have reintroduced polio to other countries, for example Syria, Lebanon and various African states, which had been previously cleared of polio”. With this line it is clear that refugees have been the most significant cause for the reintroduction of polio into countries where it was previously eradicated. Hence the given answer is located in the 11-13 lines of paragraph G.

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