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So it occurred to me that, when two colonies separated for about fifteen years meet again, one or both might have viruses the other hasn’t encountered. After all, something as simple as the common cold virus supposedly mutates frequently. We already know of about 200 different viruses associated with the “common cold.”
Well, now I’m not so sure. I’ve done some digging and it appears that these types of viruses don’t survive for more than a few weeks in the body—our immune system does a fair job of wiping them out. And they don’t live outside the body for more than a couple weeks, either. As far as I can surmise, the common cold viruses stay alive by hopping from person to person, so that there are always people out there harboring the viruses, keeping them alive.
So how would a population of about 20 people keep the cold incubating? After a matter of months, any cold virus going around would effectively be obliterated. Fifteen years later, it seems very unlikely there would be any kicking around at all.
Well, it’s a question I haven’t been able to answer with any certainty. Maybe I’m wrong and there’s a way for the common cold to stay active in a small population. But in the meantime, a Facebook friend supplied me with a better possibility: the Epstein-barr virus.
This is the virus we commonly associate with “Mono” in high school or college. It’s characterized by fatigue, possibly a sore throat, a fever, swollen lymph nodes, etc. The fatigue can drag on for several weeks, even after the other symptoms have subsided. It turns out, nearly 90% of humans have had the virus by the time they reach adulthood. We don’t all notice it, however, because it doesn’t always manifest symptoms. If you catch it as a child, it’s likely you won’t ever have symptoms, or the symptoms will be mild enough your parents might think you just have a cold.
Unfortunately, as we get older, the symptoms can be more severe. This is why some teenagers or college students who get the virus experience “Mono,” that fatigue that goes on for weeks and weeks. In a small percentage of cases, the symptoms can be far worse. Epstein-barr has been linked to encephalitis and several types of lymphoma. It would therefore be a serious concern for the colonists.
And the best part (from the perspective of my story) is that it never leaves the body, once you have it. The virus can remain dormant for decades, until some stress on the body causes it to reactivate. At which point, it can be passed through contact with the infected person’s saliva—something as simple as a mother kissing her child, someone taking a bite of something and sharing the rest, or a parent picking up toys that have been drooled on.
(In reality, I don’t think this is “cool.” The person who brought all of this to my attention learned about the virus when it struck her family in a particularly tragic way.)
So after researching this, I’ve had to go back and rewrite a couple chapters. When it was just the common cold I was dealing with, I could play it for humor. Now it’s not going to be a horrible tragedy for the colonies—that would derail the story too much—but they’ll have to take it a bit more seriously.
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
