Yeesh. Can of worms.... And it is open...I can't get it closed!!! *sits on lid* I'm sitting in an epidemiology course, for chrissakes, and I'm a vet...aaarghh! Could a mortal catch it off an immortal even though the immortal doesn't have symptoms? In basic biological sense, first, I'm sure they could carry infectios disease passively (if it's that kind of disease organism that survives in the environment). As to the disease organisms that'd require hosts to replicate - well, that'd depend exactly on whether they do get sick but recuperate faster, get sick occasionally (with organisms of high virulence/pathogenicity) or don't get sick at all. Respectively, it'd translate into "yes, they'd carry and replicate diseas without showing it much", "yes, they'd do it in some cases", and "no, they'd only act as passive carriers of contagion". What about something ultimately lethal like AIDS - same diff as above, I'd say. But I think considering they're supposed to be like mortals in most aspect, I'd go with the idea that they just have much stronger immune systems and some genetic makeup dictating eithermuch faster cell turnover and/or lack of cell death. *grins* Ya know, a bit like cancer cells? that are just cells that don't have that part of gnetic command/info that tells acell to die at a proper time. I actually have a plot idea hatching for a fic evolving around the use of immortals as organ/blood donors and why is that a bad idea, but god knows if it's ever going to get flesh on bones...
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chiming
Re: This makes me wonder...
Date: 2006-06-03 12:04 pm (UTC)From:And it is open...I can't get it closed!!! *sits on lid*
I'm sitting in an epidemiology course, for chrissakes, and I'm a vet...aaarghh!
Could a mortal catch it off an immortal even though the immortal doesn't have symptoms? In basic biological sense, first, I'm sure they could carry infectios disease passively (if it's that kind of disease organism that survives in the environment). As to the disease organisms that'd require hosts to replicate - well, that'd depend exactly on whether they do get sick but recuperate faster, get sick occasionally (with organisms of high virulence/pathogenicity) or don't get sick at all. Respectively, it'd translate into "yes, they'd carry and replicate diseas without showing it much", "yes, they'd do it in some cases", and "no, they'd only act as passive carriers of contagion".
What about something ultimately lethal like AIDS - same diff as above, I'd say. But I think considering they're supposed to be like mortals in most aspect, I'd go with the idea that they just have much stronger immune systems and some genetic makeup dictating eithermuch faster cell turnover and/or lack of cell death. *grins* Ya know, a bit like cancer cells? that are just cells that don't have that part of gnetic command/info that tells acell to die at a proper time.
I actually have a plot idea hatching for a fic evolving around the use of immortals as organ/blood donors and why is that a bad idea, but god knows if it's ever going to get flesh on bones...