Question

Assertion (A): The term 'Eradication' means termination of all transmissions of infection.

Reason (R): It involves complete destruction of the infective agent.

• A. Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
• B. Both A and R are true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A.
• C. A is true but R is false.
• D. A is false but R is true.

Hint:

Eradication is the strongest of the three disease-control terms, stronger than control or elimination.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Understanding the Question:
We need to check the meaning of the word eradication as used in disease control, and see if the given reason correctly backs up that meaning.

Step 2: Key Concept:
In disease control language there are three separate ideas. Control means cutting down cases to a level that is no longer a health problem. Elimination means bringing new cases down to zero in one country or region, though the germ still exists elsewhere and watch must continue. Eradication is the strongest term: it means every single chain of spread of that infection has stopped everywhere in the world, so the disease can never come back on its own.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
Assertion (A) says eradication means termination of all transmissions of infection. This matches the accepted meaning exactly, so A is true.
Reason (R) says eradication involves complete destruction of the infective agent. Once every chain of transmission is cut off worldwide, the organism has nowhere left to live and multiply in nature, so for practical purposes it stands destroyed as a living, spreading agent (this is exactly what happened with the smallpox virus once transmission ended everywhere). So R is true, and it gives the reason why A is true: transmission stops precisely because the agent is wiped out from every natural reservoir.

Step 4: Final Answer:
Both statements are true and R correctly explains A.