On 21 Mar 2020 at 19:43, Jeff Zeitlin wrote:

> ...if enough people apply their knowledge and (mostly fresh)
> experience to writing, I think we could have a Theme Issue on the
> topic of Plagues.

> * The partial isolation of the Long Night would have epidemiological
> implications, as would the resumption of contact as the nascent Third
> Imperium (and other dawn polities) expanded and coalesced. What sort
> of response do individual worlds - or the Imperium, or any
> subordinate polity-in-all-but-name - have to a pandemic?

Well, one big *advantage* they have is jump duration. any disease
with a latency/incubation period of a week or less *will* show up
during jump.

That makes stopping *those* infections fairly trivial. Ones with a
longer incubation period, especially if it's time enough for multiple
jumps are a big problem though.

Consider that pneumonic plague only takes 3 days from exposure to
death. That'd lead to a ship coming out of jump with everyone not
immune *dead*. Being a droplet based tranmission, it ould spread
quickly on a ship.

Bubonic plague takes 14 days (fortunately being transmitted by fleas
makes it fairly easy to stop). So folks can be infected, contagious
annd asymptomatic thru jump and for days after.

The black Death (which was almost certainly *not* yersina pestis)
took a month. Something like that can spread *widely*.

> * To what extent do human diseases cross between any of the major
> human racial goups, or between them and the more extreme minor-racial
> variants?

If they're human, it'll cross over. Only "barrier" would be in
genetic drift gave them something that made the more resistant (like
having the sickle-cell gene as a recessive does for malaria)

> What about to non-humans of Terrestrial origin (e.g., Dolphins,
> Vargr, uplifts)?

Less likely, but there are things that cross over. Heck Salmonella is
found in mammals, birds and reptiles. And (so I'm told) gonorhea is
fairly common in dogs.

> What about to non-humans of non-Terrestrial origin (e.g., Virushi,
> Llellewyloly, Bawapakerwa-a-a-awapawab) or of geneered mix (e.g.,
> Luriani)?

Very unlikely for some things, not *un*-likely for others.

> What about the reverse - minor-racial diseases crossing into major
> human racial groups?

It goes both ways. Europeans gave smallpox, measles, etc to the
America. They gave the Europeans syphillis.

> * What sort of diseases are endemic to specific worlds or regions,
> and what sort are "universal"?

Environmental factors are the big deal there. But anyplace with urban
environments and a climate not too hard on the inectious agent or
transmitting organisms (fleas for example don't deal well with cold
and can't handle high altitude at all).

> * Are there techniques that can be used on some races but not
> others? What are they, and why don't they cross?

Antibiotics are a biggie. They are,, pretty much, selective poisons.
Poisonous to the disease agent, but not us. There are antibiotics you
can't give dogs, because they'll kill them. I wouldn't suggest trying
any of them on a Vargr.

And the Vargr might have ones that aren't safe for humans, but are
just fine for dogs.

> * We know of bacteria, viri, fungi, parasites, prions, and protozoa as
>   infection agents; under what circumstances is each likely to be able
>   to cross racial/species boundaries?

Fungi are the most likely to cross over, as they are essentially
treating use as a food source and don't do a lot of interaction with
the body as anything other than a collection of useful organic
molecules.

This is why most fungal infections are on the *surface* of the body.
If they go internal, they'll have to deal with the immune system.

For something *new*, the immune system *might* not recognize it (or
at least not fast enough to keep you from getting really sick).. Or
the immune system could overeact and you'd die of anaphylactic shock.

Of course, allergic reactions from minor to fatal are a risk from
exposure to any new biologicals. In Gina Marie Wylie's Kinsella
series, the commander of the first interstellar probe dies when he
takes off his helmet to smell a flower. The air was breathable,
but...

Prions aren't likely to cross between species from different worlds,
because the oddss of them having the same protiens are pretty slim.
Since prions ar effectively a catalyst that cause protiens to fold
"the wrong way", if there isn't the protien in the target, they're
harmless.

Virii aren't a lot better, as they rely on hijacking the internal
process of cells to reproduce.

Bacteria and protozoa will have issues with the biological
differences as well as immune system responses.

Parasites are usually fairly specific. Even if their life cycle
involves several different species (not uncommon) they need those
*specific* species. Both parasitic worms and fleas show that sort of
specificity. Ones for cats and dogs can't cross over. some can cross
from dogs to humans. Ditto for cats to humans.

It all depends..

> * What sort of protocols are there in place on various worlds to try
> to minimize or block the spread of infectious diseases?

Well as noted above, jump acts as a quarantine for some things.
Likewise, running the ship at higher or lower pressure during jump
would kill some parasites. But you'd have to know about them. but it
could be standard procedure when jumping out from X to drop the
pressure to, say, the equivalent of Denver (or higher) to kill fleas.

Of course some passengers migh get altitude sickness which would
require treatment.

Other words/organisms other precautions.

If there's a known hazard, pasasengers and cargo may be put in
quarantine for however longer is required. Space stations would be
good for this. Have a set of them on staggeed schedules. So, say,
anyone arriving during week 5 of the year goes to station 1 and stays
there until week 7 is over. Week 6? You go to station 2 and stay
until week 8. And so on.

Yes this means that folks who arrived early in week 5 are in
quarantine longer than the 2 weeks required, but that's the luck of
the draw.

Things like fumigation, blood test and the like are also
possibilities.

> * What sort of failure modes are there that might let a disease go
> pandemic on one or more worlds?

Easiest one is for the incubation period to be longer than the
quarantine period. John Dalmas's Yngling stories have such a plague
as the background (historical background).

Picture the current world getting hit with somethig nasty that has a
latency period of a month or more and a high infection ratio. With
air travel all over the place, it could be well established pretty
much everywhere before the first few cases got hospitalized.
--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com