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Illness

JeffinOakland

Fleet Captain
Fleet Captain
Why don't Starfleet crew hardly ever succumb to local illnesses when they make planetfall? Why don't they get sick from the food or water? Why don't they ever kill off local populations like the colonists unwittingly killing off the Indians? Are various species magically immune to each other's illnesses, viruses, bacteria, bugs? Is this addressed?
 
I thought the biofilters only screened out known illnesses. That doesn't keep Starfleet crew from catching and spreading new diseases from new aliens or unwittingly infecting new aliens with their own.
 
It's a TV show. They only get sick when it serves the plot. There are occasions where the ship's mission involves delivering medicine to colony worlds suffering from various illnesses.
 
Why don't Starfleet crew hardly ever succumb to local illnesses when they make planetfall? Why don't they get sick from the food or water? Why don't they ever kill off local populations like the colonists unwittingly killing off the Indians? Are various species magically immune to each other's illnesses, viruses, bacteria, bugs? Is this addressed?

You know what's a surprisingly fascinating virus? It's the virus that causes warts. Well, I say 'the', but that's a misleading article. There are many viruses which cause warts, and here's an astounding thing about them: a virus that gives you warts on your face will do very nicely there, but struggle to take hold on, say, your fingernails, or your feet.

But then the species of virus that will populate your feet with warts, if transplanted to your face, will struggle mightily. There's kinds that will grow warts around your finger- and toe-nails, but not really do much anywhere else. They're all wart viruses, all recognizable as such, and yet, they're so well-evolved and so well-adapted that not only are they optimized to a single species but they're optimized to different parts of the skin of that species.


As we lack experience with truly alien biochemistries, we don't really have the evidence to say whether diseases which have evolved to target the life in one biosphere will do well, or do nothing, or do something strange, on life from another biosphere.

I admit I would find it plausible for, say, Vulcanian influenza to do poorly attacking humans; it can be hard enough for one bug to attack a new species here on Earth. But I wouldn't rule it out, either on scientific or on dramatic grounds.
 
Porthos got sick after visiting an alien planet in ENT: A Night in Sickbay, so it does happen.

Of course that was early on, when they killed germs by rubbing gel over each other in a room that looked like a tiny, scuzzy nightclub. I guess you could rub gel over the furry little critter, but how would he reciprocate?

I suppose a transporter could keep a reference matrix for each transportee, and then filter out what didn't match that. But how would they allow for mental changes? How would they prevent a memory wipe every time you beamed back from a planet? It would also make acquiring tattoos a waste of time. OTOH, perhaps such technology could be used to counter the ageing process.

Anyway, the answer is "Because science!"
 
One aspect of disease is that the virus/pathogen must be able to attack and replicate inside of the host, or else, it's not doing its job. You'll notice that not every disease that impacts cows, sheep, dogs and cats (among others) does not impact humans. The species barrier is one defense against alien planets is the fact the the lifeforms may simply not adjust to humans or other aliens in time for the filters to cause disease.

Also, the biofilters can detect anomalies in the crewmember's body by comparing it against a previous beaming, allowing foreign agents, even unknown ones, to be removed, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. So, not exactly magic so much as a matter of how close the biology of the new world matches humans enough to make them sick.
 
The landing party got infected in 'Miri'.
Tracey's crew got wiped out by a virus in 'Omega Glory'
Spock got some illness in a TAS episode.
Both TOS and TNG crews were infected by a virus in the 'Naked Time' and 'Naked Now'

I thought Janeway and Chakotay got some disease in VOY and were left behind so as not to infect the rest of the crew but that could have been a technobabble disease so I'm not sure
 
People do get sick from various alien diseases. There are a plethora of them mentioned throughout Trek from Andorian shingles to Zanthi fever, but fortunately Trek medicine can combat most of them. Instances in which that isn't the case (or at least not immediately so) are generally noted either here and there in passing dialogue of various episodes or, in some cases, are a major element of some episodes.
 
A crewperson getting sick is how Sulu was at the helm in ST: Eleven. He apparently was the backup.

:)
 
It is also possible that the viruses and bacteria of new planets are so alien to folks from off-world and their alien biology that they don't affect them. The viruses and bacteria of a planet have evolved to act within that particular ecosystem not the alien one that is a Klingon, human, or any other off world visitor. No magic involved whatsoever.
 
I guess you could rub gel over the furry little critter, but how would he reciprocate?

Frantic licking?

It is also possible that the viruses and bacteria of new planets are so alien to folks from off-world and their alien biology that they don't affect them.

Conversely, future medicine might quite plausibly come up with substances that cause the body's own defensive mechanisms to adapt to threats far faster than they normally do. We have no real defense against viruses today other than tickling of our own immune reactions; we are doing pretty well against most viruses that way nevertheless. Plausibly, the heroes could take a broad-spectrum "inoculation" every now and then so that every viral threat, no matter how alien, would be met with a boosted and greatly hastened body response.

Timo Saloniemi
 
The landing party got infected in 'Miri'.
Tracey's crew got wiped out by a virus in 'Omega Glory'
Spock got some illness in a TAS episode.
Both TOS and TNG crews were infected by a virus in the 'Naked Time' and 'Naked Now'

There's also an outbreak of Rigellian fever aboard the ship in "Requiem for Methuselah." And Kirk mentions having been once infected with Vegan choriomenigitis in "Mark of Gideon."

Disease is definitely still an issue in the 23rd Century . . .
 
The transporter's biofilter could and would filter out known anomalies, and had its limitations against some viruses, as well as dealing with exotic organisms...while not perfect, it did pretty well...
 
The transporter's biofilter could and would filter out known anomalies, and had its limitations against some viruses, as well as dealing with exotic organisms...while not perfect, it did pretty well...
Yet, it's baffled by physical injury.
 
It's a TV show. They only get sick when it serves the plot. There are occasions where the ship's mission involves delivering medicine to colony worlds suffering from various illnesses.

Exactly. I've no doubt that our favorite characters get sick or get drunk, nor would it surprise me to learn that they exercise the same bodily functions as the rest of us; however, none of these things are shown or described because they don't serve the overall plot of a particular episode or novel.

I do recall an episode of Voyager in which the Doctor gave himself several illnesses in order to understand his patients better, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

Wasn't there an outbreak of some sort of aphasia-related disease aboard DS9 at some point?

Yes, as a result of Cardassian booby-trap.

--Sran
 
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