The Fight Against Polio Reading Answers

May 3, 2025

The Fight Against Polio Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. The Fight Against Polio Reading Answers has a total of 11 IELTS questions in total. In the first question set (27-33) given you have to choose which paragraph contains the given statement. In the last question set (34-37) given you have to fill in the blanks with the correct answer in no more than two words for each answer. In the question set (38-40) you have to choose the correct answer in no more than three words or a number from the given passage.

The IELTS Reading section is an essential part of the test that evaluates a candidate's comprehension and analysis of various passage types. You will work through a number of IELTS reading practice problems in this section that resemble actual test situations. These questions are designed to help you improve your ability to recognize essential concepts, extract particular facts, and make inferences. Practicing these IELTS reading problems can help you get comfortable with the structure and increase your confidence for the exam, regardless of whether you are studying for the Academic or General Training module.

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Section 1 THE FIGHT AGAINST POLIO

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, 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 organisation 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 paralysed, 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) favoured 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 unfavourable conditions in the laboratory will undergo mutation into forms 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 paralysing 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 7988, various organisations 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 tantalisingly 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 travellers, 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 27-33

The text above has 7 paragraphs A — G.

Which paragraph contains the following information?

27. The OPV protects people in the same way as a Wild virus works in the body.

Answer: E

Supporting statement: OPV is taken by mouth and, like a wild poliovirus, induces immunity against itself in the gut wall as it travels through the intestine.

Keywords: OPV, wild poliovirus

Keyword Location: Para E, Lines 8-9

Explanation: When OPV is administered orally, it causes the gut wall to become immune to itself as it passes through the intestine, much like a wild poliovirus. Therefore, in contrast to the Salk vaccination, it offers a unique kind of immune protection.

28. Panic was intentionally created in order to raise money to fight polio.

Answer: C

Supporting statement: This fear Of polio was deliberately fuelled

Keywords: fear, Fuelled

Keyword Location: Para C, Line 1

Explanation: According to the text, founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio survivor himself, the March of Dimes was an American fundraising organization that purposefully fueled and profited on the fear of polio. It generated large amounts of money that were used to finance research projects that eventually produced successful polio vaccinations as well as direct assistance for polio victims and their families.

29. The OPV was more successful than the IPV at preventing polio.

Answer: F

Supporting statement: Sabin's OPV, being cheaper, more effective and easier to give, later superseded the Salk vaccine

Keywords: effective, superseded

Keyword Location: Para F, Lines 8-9

Explanation: The text states that Sabin's OPV was much cheaper, easier to give and lastly more effective in comparison to Salk's IPV.

30. The US polio outbreaks caused some people to move away from high population areas in the summers.

Answer: B

Supporting statement: Each year, panic resurfaced as the polio season approached, with the wealthy leaving towns and cities in droves.

Keywords: Resurfaced, Leaving

Keyword Location: Para B, Lines 6-7

Explanation: The text states that, as every year in the summer, polio outbreaks started happening more in the US, and it forced some people, usually the wealthy, to move away from highly populated areas.

31. Extremism is one barrier to the eradication of polio.

Answer: G

Supporting statement: which was exterminated by intensive global vaccination during the late 1970's.

Keywords: exterminated, global

Keyword Location: Para G Lines 4-5

Explanation: The text states that a global vaccination campaign was launched in 7988 by a number of organizations in an effort to eradicate polio. The idea was that polio would become extinct like smallpox, which was eradicated by widespread vaccinations in the late 1970s.

32. Iron lungs were in great demand because the numbers of people sick with polio.

Answer: A

Supporting statement: the need for iron lungs was so high that they were used with a patient within an hour of their manufacture.

Keywords: iron lungs, hour

Keyword Location: Para A, Lines 10-11

Explanation: According to the text developed hundreds of years ago, the iron lung—officially called a negative pressure ventilator—was built upon in the 1930s to combat global polio outbreaks. The demand for iron lungs was so great at one point that a patient would use them within an hour of their production.

33. One medicine used to treat polio was based on snake poison.

Answer: D

Supporting statement: Less dramatic were massive doses of vitamins C and chemically modified cobra venom.

Keywords: modified, venom

Keyword Location: Para D, Lines 3-4

Explanation: The text states that patients suffering from acute polio have been treated with barbaric approaches, one such being the use of modified venom from a cobra.

Questions 34-37

Write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD for each answer.

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.

Answer: FORMALIN

Supporting statement:in which wild polioviruses are 'killed' with formalin,

Keywords: Wild ,formalin

Keyword Location: Para E, Lines 2-3

Explanation: The text states that in the "inactivated polio vaccine" (IPV), Jonas Salk (1914–1998) advocated using formalin to "kill" wild polioviruses, preventing them from replicating and spreading into 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.

Answer: MUTATION

Supporting statement: unfavourable conditions in the laboratory will undergo mutation into forms can no longer invade the spinal cord.

Keywords: mutation, invade

Keyword Location: Para E, Lines 6-7

Explanation: According to the text the 'oral polio vaccine' (OPV), created by Albert Sabin (1906-1993), is based on the idea that polioviruses that are compelled to grow in unfavorable conditions in a lab would mutate into forms that are unable to reach the spinal cord.

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.

Answer: TRIALS

Supporting statement:in massive clinical trials in 1954 involving 1.8 million American children.

Keywords: trials, 1954

Keyword Location: Para F, Line 2

Explanation:In 1954, 1.8 million American children participated in extensive clinical trials of Salk's IPV, the first polio vaccine to be studied extensively. Salk became a national and international hero with the dramatic announcement that his vaccine "works and is safe," and the vaccination of children with his IPV started right away.

Both vaccines are effective, though there is a possible and unlikely danger Of an unsafe(37).................. developing in the IPV.

Answer: VARIANTS

Supporting statement: Vaccination continued despite a tragic outbreak of paralytic (and sometimes fatal) polio due to contamination of the Salk vaccine with wild poliovirus,

Keywords: outbreak, contamination

Keyword Location: Para F, Line 5

Explanation: According to the text, both the vaccines were effective but in the Salk vaccine there was one problem that caused paralysi,s which was sometimes fatal due to contamination of the Salk vaccine with wild poliovirus, which was the result of carelessness in the vaccine production plant.

Questions 38-40

Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/ OR A NUMBER from the text for each answer.

38. What group is especially prone to the paralysis caused by polio?

Answer: CHILDREN

Supporting statement:Polio originally caused sporadic clusters of paralysis, especially in children.

Keywords: clusters, Children

Keyword Location: Para B, Line 1

Explanation: The text states that the group that was more prone to the paralysis were the children, as the vaccine caused the formation of sporadic clusters of paralysis in them as a side effect of the vaccine.

39. What proportion of people did not survive treatment in the iron lung without effective chest

treatment?

Answer: 70%

Supporting statement: chest infections could be properly treated, seventy percent of patients put inside the iron lung died there.

Keywords: chest infections, 70%

Keyword Location: Para D, Line 7

Explanation: The text states that about seventeen percent of the people who were treated with the help of iron lungs did not survive because of chest infections that had no effective treatment at that time.

40. Who have been the most significant cause for the reintroduction of polio into countries where it was previous eradicated?

Answer: REFUGEES

Supporting statement: Usually refugees, but also other travellers, have reintroduced polio to other countries,

Keywords: refugees, reintroduced

Keyword Location: Para G, Line 10

Explanation: The test mentions that the cause of the polio outbreak in countries that have usually eradicated it in the past is because of the refugees and other travellers who come to the country. This is because they act as carriers of the disease taking it with themselves to the places they go and spreading it again.

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