• Question: Is it possible to carry a disease for years until you become weak enouph that it can spreads?

    Asked by Elena Starlight to Max, Francis on 13 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Francis Man

      Francis Man answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      Yes, I can think of tuberculosis for example. Many people have it for decades without any symptoms, but it can become activate if their immune system is weakened.

    • Photo: Max Jamilly

      Max Jamilly answered on 13 Mar 2018:

      Great question. Lots of viral diseases can hang out in your body for a long time without having any serious effects, until eventually they get activated and become highly infectious. It’s a trade-off: if you are healthy, the virus can grow inside you for longer. But eventually the virus needs to find a new host so that it can spread through the population. Then the virus doesn’t mind if it weakens or kills the host, so it multiplies very quickly.
      Another example is HIV, which causes AIDS. It can stay in a patient for decades until it weakens them enough to be fatal.

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