Question:

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

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

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Think about what has to happen to an agent for transmission to stop everywhere for good.
Updated On: Jul 7, 2026
  • Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
  • Both A and R are true but R is NOT the correct explanation of A.
  • A is true but R is false.
  • A is false but R is true.
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understand the assertion.
Eradication is the strongest term in disease control language. By the standard WHO definition, eradication means the permanent reduction to zero of the worldwide incidence of infection caused by a specific agent, so that no further transmission takes place anywhere. This is stronger than control, which only lowers a disease to a locally acceptable level while the agent still circulates, and stronger than elimination, which stops transmission in one region while the agent may still exist elsewhere. So the assertion, that eradication means termination of all transmission of infection, is true.

Step 2: Understand the reason.
For transmission to stop everywhere and stay stopped, the infective agent itself has to be wiped out from its natural reservoir. This is exactly what happened with smallpox: once the virus had nowhere left to multiply and spread in nature, transmission ended for good, and the disease was declared eradicated in 1980. So the reason, that eradication involves complete destruction of the infective agent, is also true.

Step 3: Check if the reason explains the assertion.
The two statements are directly linked. Transmission can only be permanently terminated worldwide if the agent itself has been destroyed or removed from circulation everywhere, since as long as the agent survives somewhere, it can restart transmission. So the destruction of the infective agent is the mechanism that produces the termination of all transmission. This makes R a correct explanation of A.

Step 4: Rule out the other options.
Option (b) would apply if both statements were true but unrelated, which is not the case here since one causes the other. Option (c) fails because R is true, not false. Option (d) fails because A is also true, not false.

Final Answer:
Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
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