Some questions

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
>
> > However - another thing worth thinking about; Bill was consiidered at
> > risk from a werewolf bite when the biter wasn't in werewolf form. 
> > How very interesting. 
> > There is a definite transmission risk at any time, it seems.
> > What does this say about the ethics of DD admitting a covert w-w into
> > the Hogwarts school population? Tut, tut, Alby-baby. 
> > 
> > Alternatively, could it be a 'Flint' - or the inclusion of what wimpish film
> > makers label as 'mild peril' in a fruitless attempt to dredge up some
> > audience sympathy for someone nobody really cares about?
> 
> 
> Pippin:
> I got the impression nobody knew whether it would be contagious
> because werewolves usually have no urge to bite when they're not
> transformed. 
> 

Yet they are worried - about 'contamination' and possible 'behavioural 
changes'. And a behavioural change does happen; he develops a great liking
for very rare steaks. The implication is that there is contamination, though
minor.

OK. A bit of nit-picking. Partly as a reader who does't like special pleading
from authors, partly ex-professional. 
Ignore this bit if you get bored easily.
Dunno about you, but I've never come across partial were-wolf infections,
or partial or full natural resistance to such infections before. It's an either/or,
yes/no type of thing. Get bit and it's hairy pelt time for you, my son. Can 
anyone point to a contrary example? 

Reverting to my previous existence as a medical microbiologist/virologist 
there's no obvious reason why transmission can't occur while in human form 
- the full-blown disease state may not be being fully expressed, but the individual
is still loaded to the gun'nuls with the infective agent, albeit in the quiescient
state. To get the more-or-less instantaneous full body change we see in PoA
all tissues would have to carry the morphing agent, therefore any transfer of
tissue or fluid and the w-w factor, active or passive, gets passed on. If it's
passive - just adding a full moon will fix that state of affairs and get 'em up 
and running in the new victim soon enough - all that's needed is a means of
transfer - an inclination to bite - or an altruistic desire to help his fellow
man by donating organs for transplant after finally succumbing to canine
distemper would do it. Maybe that's why they don't seem to encourage such
practices in the WW. 

The closest RL parallel I can think of (recurring infective disease with 
asymptomatic periods - not 'silent syph', that's a natural progression of the 
infection) is recrudescent typhus, where even when asymptomatic the patient
is infective and lice can pass on the disease - oh, and not forgetting Herpes, a
possibly even closer paradigm, what with sunlight sometimes being the trigger
for reactivation. 

We really do need a 'Handbook of Ailments found in Everyday Fantasy' to
help keep authors honest. Volunteers?

Of course, what we haven't been told is if there's been a full moon since
Bill was bitten - so there's still a chance that he could become a playmate
for Remus.
 
Kneasy