Interpreting antibiotic effectiveness from bacterial growth data

Steps:

• Examine bacterial growth curves for each antibiotic to compare inhibition levels over time.
• For statement 1, check growth after 10 hours: Y shows greater inhibition than X, so X is not more effective.
• For statement 2, compare overall curves: W consistently inhibits growth more than X across the experiment.
• For statement 3, identify the best performer: Z inhibits less than W overall, so Z is not the most effective.

Why C is correct:

• Option C selects only statement 2, which matches the data where W's curve shows superior inhibition compared to X, per standard microbiological efficacy metrics.

Why the others are wrong:

• A includes incorrect statement 1, as Y outperforms X at 10 hours.
• B includes incorrect statements 1 and 3, ignoring Y's edge at 10 hours and W's overall superiority.
• D selects only 3, but Z is outperformed by W.

Final answer: C