In the workplace, influenza is typically spread by
infected individuals to others with whom they work
in close quarters. A new medication that suppresses
the symptoms of influenza therefore will actually
increase the number of influenza cases, because this
medication will allow people who would otherwise be
home in bed to return to work while infected.
Which of the following, if true, most seriously chal-
lenges the prediction?
(A) Coughing, a symptom of influenza that the new
medication suppresses, is a primary mechanism
in the spread of this illness.
(B) Some medications that are used to suppress
symptoms of influenza are also used by many
people to treat symptoms that are caused not
by influenza but by other illnesses.
(C) Many workers who now remain at home when
infected with influenza do so because the
symptoms of influenza prevent them from per-
forming their jobs effectively.
(D) Most adults who are immunized against influ-
enza in order to avoid being infected are over
65 years old and retired and thus do not work
outside the home.
(E) Symptoms of an illness are often the body's
means of curing itself of the illness, and there-
fore suppression of symptom