Transporters are miracles. Why does anyone still get sick?

[Gingerbread Demon]

Here me out first before you poo poo this.

If must transporters in Star Trek have biofilters which filter out diseases and such why can't someone take a short trip with a transporter arrive at a destination and be cured of their sickness right away?

I mean isn't that what a biofilter is supposed to do anyway?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It'd be tricky. You'd have to make sure it didn't eliminate good bacteria, and what that is varies with the species.

Maybe it only filters out surface contaminants.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

It'd be tricky. You'd have to make sure it didn't eliminate good bacteria, and what that is varies with the species.

Maybe it only filters out surface contaminants.

It's one of those little details they never really explain to a great degree in any series but I do wonder if the machine can do that why even bother with hospitals still?

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

And I suppose there are many people who go long periods of time in between transporting - it's not the only way to travel, after all. But you'd think that people exiting a shuttle would have to pass through a force field that would also filter out bugs.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

And I suppose there are many people who go long periods of time in between transporting - it's not the only way to travel, after all. But you'd think that people exiting a shuttle would have to pass through a force field that would also filter out bugs.

They'd be crazy not to have something like that especially when landing on new planets

 

[1001001]

I was watching a science panel today, talking about the science of Star Trek. The host asked what was possible and what wasn’t.

The scientists on the panel all agreed that warp speed is mathematically possible.

They all also agreed that we will never have transporters.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Should this thread move to "Trek Tech"?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Should this thread move to "Trek Tech"?

I thought my question was not really tech in nature though. But if mods wish to move it fair enough.

 

[Oddish]

Biofilters are not universally effective. Remember the disease that almost killed Riker in "Shades of Gray". It passed through the biofilters like they weren't even there.

 

[Cyfa]

I have a vague recollection that there was a line or two in some episode that said biofilters only work for known bugs/viruses/contaminents etc - I'm guessing someone has to program the transporters as to what to take out and what to leave in (@Laura Cynthia Chambers' "good bacteria", for example). If so, there's still a need for sickbay and science labs to catalogue and research new discoveries so they can be added to the transporter database.
I just wish I could remember which episode it came from. If it did at all, and I'm not making the whole thing up. Do you think a transporter can help with memory problems?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I should maybe clarify the question. What about known diseases / things they would have data on?

 

[NCC-73515]

24th century biofilters remove known biohazards - like 32nd century suits, which only keep out known substances

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

24th century biofilters remove known biohazards - like 32nd century suits, which only keep out known substances

So people with cancer could be cured with a trip through the transporter, or broken limbs even.

 

[Oddish]

Or regenerated from a stored pattern, if they were fatally injured.

 

[JesterFace]

I have always thought that transporters remove any jerms or bacteria on the person using it but nothing internal.
If transporting could make everyone healthy forever I'd like to use the transporter to get rid of MS.

 

[Oddish]

Or inoperable brain tumors.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Stuff that doesn't share your DNA and doesn't belong there. With special settings for pregnancy and symbionts, etc.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Considering that people in the 24th century aren't supposed to get headaches (and most of the illnesses we hear about in the shows aren't the ones we know irl), i wonder if the transporters are the reason for this...

 

[valkyrie013]

Could do this, Your on a ship, you transport down, you have a saved pattern of who you are, what your carrying, so you use this as a baseline for the biofilter. When beaming up, when passing through the filter, it "Should" filter out any virus or bacteria that wasn't there on the way down, unless its on an "Approved" list in the computer, as in, non harmful.

Lets say your beaming up from another platform, say on earth, station, or another ship, the beam includes a data packet that has that persons profile for the bio filter etc. or that it coming from an approved ship, etc. that the bio filter operates in a normal way of filtering out known contagions, and flagging any unknown stuff.

As for the healing? That might fall under genetic manipulation, and might be illegal. atleast for stuff like a cold or a headache. I would hope by that time, they would have a cure for viruses and bacteria, and the risk of getting a disease would be remote on a closed system like a starship. However, i would think that a persons immune system would be quite weak if its not exercised every once in awhile, in that they beam down, and catch a Vulcan Cold, it may be deadly .

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Transporters should pre-scan, identify any potential complications, ask the person if they still want to continue. Someone who hasn't transported in a while may find out via the pre-scan that they're gonna have a baby, or they have a parasite.