Changeling Disease

[MyCylon]

I'm just rewatching "Broken Link". I'm sorry if this has been discussed already but I was wondering if it's stated anywhere that Odo's disease here (which the Founders infected him with) was the basis for the disease that Secion 31 created later on. Obviously, they'd have access to Bashir's research on Odo.

If this were indeed the case, it would be quite ironic, I think.

 

[Bill Morris]

Unlikely, since Bashir mentioned to O'Brien that the Founders had a lot of experts looking for a cure for the one Section 31 used, strongly suggesting that it was very different. There was also a team of Vorta doctors in the Alpha Quadrant working on it. And there was nothing stated to suggest that the two diseases were related.

 

[TeutonicNights]

Actually, Odo transmitted the Section 31 Virus to the founders in "Broken Link".

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Morphogenic_virus

 

[MyCylon]

^
Ah, I think I remember. I thought section 31 might have adapted it but that doesn't fit with the timeline.

Interesting. I wonder what their starting point was for the disease then. Obviously, a lot of research was available but Bashir always said he didn't really understand Odo's physiology.

 

[Kegek]

^
But Bashir didn't develop the disease. Nor could he find a cure. People with incredible skill and technology, some of it slightly above Federation normal, did on both counts.

It's interesting, however, that both diseases had the same effect: To make changelings flake and lose a bit of coherency in their material form. The same thing happened to Odo when Garak stopped him from changing back to his liquid state. Clearly, that's about the only way you can really disease changelings, even if the particulars vary.

 

[DarthPipes]

Section 31 started it, not Bashir. It's funny though that it was Section 31 doing this that allowed the war to end without a bloody invasion of Cardassia.

 

[MyCylon]

Kegek`s Corpse said:
^
But Bashir didn't develop the disease. Nor could he find a cure.

Oh, I wasn't meaning to say he developed it (it would go against everything he believes in). But his research on Odo when he was ill could potentially have been the basis for others to create a disease.
Obviously, if Odo was already infected by the time of "Broken Link" this isn't the case.

Kegek`s Corpse said:
It's interesting, however, that both diseases had the same effect: To make changelings flake and lose a bit of coherency in their material form.

That's why I thought it might have been used as a starting point for the development of a weapon.

DarthPipes said:
Section 31 started it, not Bashir. It's funny though that it was Section 31 doing this that allowed the war to end without a bloody invasion of Cardassia.

That's a dark path to follow but (from the Federation's point of view) there's probably some truth to it. Although one has to point out that the disease is part of the reason the war ended. Had it not been for Odo, it probably would have lasted longer than it did.