Question

Read the paragraph from The Hot Zone. She took up a scalpel and slit the monkey's abdomen, making a slow and gentle cut, keeping the blade well away from her gloved fingers. The spleen was puffed up and tough, leathery, like a globe of smoked salami. She did not see any bloody lesions inside this monkey. She had expected that the monkey's interior would be a lake of blood, but no, this monkey looked all right, it had not bled into itself. If the animal had died of Ebola, this was not a clear case. She opened up the intestine. There was no blood inside it. The gut looked okay. Then she examined the stomach. There she found a ring of bleeding spots at the junction between the stomach and the small intestine. This could be a sign of Ebola, but it was not a clear sign. It could also be a sign of simian fever, not Ebola. Therefore, she could not confirm the presence of Ebola virus in this animal based on a visual inspection of the internal organs during necropsy. Which statement best summarizes the central idea of this paragraph? It is difficult to identify Ebola in dead specimens. Performing a necropsy is a tedious procedure. Signs of simian fever and Ebola can be similar. Ebola has unusual effects on infected monkeys. Mark this and return

Answer 1

The central idea of this paragraph from The Hot Zone is C) Signs of Simian fever and Ebola can be similar. This idea is clear when the author states that "This could be a sign of Ebola, but it was not a clear sign. It could also be a sign of simian fever, not Ebola." The author also makes several statements that her finding while dissecting the specimen were not clear signs of Ebola. Thus the reason for the monkeys death could have been Ebola but it also could have been Simian fever.