Logical Reasoning

PT157 · S2 · Q11 Wounds become infected because

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Wounds become infected because the break in the skin allows bacteria to enter.

Given that...

Wounds become infected because the break in the skin allows bacteria to enter.

Infection slows healing.

Honey contains significant quantities of bacteria.

How can it be that...

In a study at a Nigerian hospital, cleaned wounds that were treated with honey healed faster, on average, than both cleaned wounds treated with antibiotic ointment and wounds cleaned but not otherwise treated.

Evaluate / Goal

We need an answer to explain why the bacteria in the honey isn't causing the wounds to heal more slowly, and why the honey actually speeds healing. Maybe the bacteria in honey is different somehow from the bacteria that normally infects wounds. Or maybe something in honey speeds the healing of wounds to a much greater extent than the bacteria slows healing.

11.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps to resolve the apparent discrepancy between the results of the study and the stated facts about wounds, bacteria, infection, and healing?

  1. Wounds that have simply been

    Irrelevant Comparison

    This answer tells us that simply-cleaned wounds heal faster than ointment-treated wounds. While this is an interesting finding, it does not address the core paradox — why honey, despite containing bacteria, helps wounds heal faster than either alternative. If anything, this deepens one mystery (why ointment seems to slow healing compared to no treatment) while completely ignoring the honey question. We need to know why honey works, not just that ointment does not.

    0% picked this

  2. The bacteria found in honey

    No Impact

    This answer offers two facts: honey's bacteria are in lower concentrations than those in typical infections, and ointment rarely kills all bacteria. While these seem helpful at first, neither resolves the paradox. Lower concentrations of bacteria still means more bacteria being added to a wound — any additional bacteria should slow healing according to the stated facts. And ointment not killing all bacteria does not explain why honey (which adds bacteria) heals wounds faster. We need an explanation for honey's positive effect, not just a reduction in its expected negative effect.

    4% picked this

  3. Correct

    Honey has properties that inhibit

    Why this is right

    This answer resolves both halves of the paradox beautifully. First, honey has properties that inhibit bacterial growth in wounds, including its own bacteria. This explains why honey does not cause infection despite containing bacteria — the honey itself neutralizes the threat. Second, antibiotic ointments damage sensitive wound tissue, which slows healing. This explains why honey outperforms ointment — while ointment kills bacteria, it also damages the wound. Honey gets the best of both worlds: it inhibits bacteria (like ointment) without damaging tissue (unlike ointment). Together, these two mechanisms explain why honey-treated wounds heal faster than both ointment-treated and untreated wounds.

    Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    77% picked this

  4. The high concentration of sugar

    Too Weak

    This answer explains why honey's bacteria might not cause infection — the high sugar concentration inhibits bacterial growth, including honey's own bacteria. This resolves one half of the paradox: why honey does not make things worse. But it does not explain why honey heals wounds faster than ointment or faster than no treatment at all. Inhibiting bacteria puts honey on roughly equal footing with ointment (which kills bacteria) but does not explain honey's superior healing. We still need to know why the ointment is doing worse, and this answer does not address that.

    11% picked this

  5. The antibiotic ointment used in

    Too Weak

    This answer tells us that ointment damages wound tissue, explaining why ointment underperforms — but it does not explain why honey works. Even if ointment is harmful to tissue, that only explains the ointment-vs-cleaning comparison, not the honey-vs-cleaning comparison. Honey still contains bacteria, and we still need an explanation for why honey-treated wounds heal faster than wounds that were only cleaned. Without accounting for why honey's bacteria do not slow healing, this answer leaves the core paradox unresolved.

    8% picked this

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