Table of Contents
BEST IELTS General Reading Test 504
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST 504 – PASSAGE – 3
IELTS GENERAL READING TEST – 504
READING PASSAGE – 3
Medical Detection Dogs: Sniffing Out One of the World’s Most Dangerous Diseases
For many years man’s best friend has been helping blind people with their daily lives but now, as well as assisting with lives, they may be able to save them!
A. Malaria kills about half a million people a year. That’s about 1400 people every day or 1 person every minute. The vast majority of these are children under 15 in some of the poorest countries in the world. There is no cure for malaria and no vaccine to prevent the most vulnerable children catching the disease. It can kill within 24 hours of infection and some children in Africa can be infected up to 13 times a year. Spending on malaria accounts for about 40% of the public health budget in countries that can ill-afford it.
B. When the malaria parasites from infected mosquitos enter the blood stream they infect and destroy red blood cells. This leads to flu like symptoms such as sweating, headache, fever, tiredness, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea. Because these symptoms are so non-specific it is not always clear that the patient is a victim of malaria which can delay identification.
IELTS General Reading Test
C. There is no vaccine for malaria and the conditions that encourage the spread of the disease, such as high population density and high mosquito density, are frequently found in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. However, if any of these conditions are substantially reduced then malaria can be eradicated and this has happened in North America, Europe and parts of the Middle East. However until it is totally eliminated from the whole world malaria could easily become re-established.
D. One of the most important weapons in the fight against malaria is early detection of the disease. However, currently diagnosis involves finger-prick blood tests that are then screened in a laboratory. This is both time-consuming and very expensive and health authorities have real difficulties identifying who is carrying the malaria parasite in communities where the disease is present at a low level. This is where the dog’s come in.
IELTS General Reading Test
E. Using dogs to identify malaria carriers has the advantage that it is not invasive, the ‘testing’ can be done anywhere and it doesn’t require a laboratory. Also a large number of people can be tested at the same time. The idea is to train dogs to be able to identify malaria victims by their scent.
F. Dogs have an incredible ability to detect minute odour traces created by diseases. Because they are able to detect tiny odour concentrations, around one part per trillion. This is the equivalent of one teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Thus, they are potentially able to detect diseases, such as malaria, much earlier than is currently possible with traditional methods. This pioneering work with dogs could help to speed up the diagnosis process and impact on thousands of lives.
IELTS General Reading Test
G. To train the dogs, sweat samples will be collected from 400 Gambian children. Of the samples, 15 per cent will be collected from children known to be have the malaria parasite, so that the dogs can be trained to distinguish positive from negative samples. If the first phase of the trial is successful, then the project may be able to continue if sufficient grand funding is made available.
H. So far the project has already received sufficient funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to cover the costs of the initial training and studies. So if it is successful – and there is good reason to suppose it will be – there is every likelihood that the foundation will continue its support.
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 28-33
The text below has eight sections, A-H. Choose the correct heading for sections C-H from the list of headings below. Write the correct number, I-xi.
List of Headings
i. How the dogs are trained
ii. Benefits of using dogs to diagnose malaria
iii. Project funding
iv. Other animals that are suitable for the task
v. The symptoms of malaria
vi. Reasons why rich people don’t get malaria
vii. Reasons why dogs are suitable for the task
viii. How food choices can help prevent malaria
ix. The conditions which promote malaria
x. Some background on the disease
xi. Problems with current methods of diagnosis
IELTS General Reading Test
Questions 34-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? In boxes 34-40 on your answer sheet write:
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE – if the statement contracts the information
NOT GIVEN – if there is no information on this
34. The majority of people killed by malaria are children under the age of 15.
35. Malaria always kills people within 24 hours of infection.
36. The symptoms of malaria make it easy to identify.
37. Scientists have been working of a vaccine for malaria since the 1920’s.
38. Current methods of diagnosing malaria are expensive.
39. Dogs will identify carriers of malaria by their scent
40. If the project is successful it is not likely to receive further funding from the Gates Foundation.
IELTS General Reading Test
IELTS General Reading Test
ANSWERS
28. IX
29. XI
30. II
31. VII
32. I
33. III
34. TRUE
35. FALSE
36. FALSE
37. NOT GIVEN
38. TRUE
39. TRUE
40. FALSE
IELTS General Reading Test