Monday, June 16, 2008

Don't Buy That Panda Just Yet




There has been a lot of discussion in the comment section of one of the blogs I read daily on the whole infertility/ deadly pregnancy issue. Since I have a degree in the health field, I keep trying to come up with some semi-scientific ideas for why this could possibly be happening. There is always the chance that it can’t really be explained by scientific means or that I am so wrong that it will be amazing but I am going to try anyways J

Juliet says “The problem occurs somewhere during the second trimester, when the mother’s immune system is triggered. The white blood cell count plummets. It’s like the immune system turns on the fetus”. Leukopenia is the term for a low white blood cell count. It is also important to mention to note that white blood cell is a blanket term for a number of different cells of the immune system each have different and complex functions but they all protect the and rid the body of pathogens just in their own special ways. My first hypothesis is loosely based on the way HIV/AIDS works. HIV is a virus that slowly attacks the white blood cell called T Helper Cells. Without the proper antiviral medications, roughly in about 2 years your T Helper Cell count drops so low (this is when it is full blown AIDS) you can no longer protect yourself against even the simplest things like the common cold. These “opportunistic infections” kill you, not the AIDS itself. From what Juliet described whatever is killing these women acts in a similar manner. Could the pregnancy cause the immune system to decrease so much the “sickness” then ravages the fetus and mother? This only works if the “sickness” what Desmond had. Perhaps instead of the sickness all of the electromagnetic energy ravages the fetus and mother instead. Leukopenia can happen because of chemotherapy or radiation therapy so maybe from electromagnetic energy as well?


This leads me to my next crazy scientific theory of the post. The men on the island have a huge increase in their sperm count than a normal off island male would have. Could the EM energy I spoke about above be in play here too? Perhaps it not only causes the sperm count to increase but it also mutates it. This sperm mutation which continues as it impregnates the woman continues until either the woman is removed from the harmful energy or they die. If this is the case I am curious what would happen now that the hatch imploded and the sky turned purple. Maybe Sun would have been just fine because the fail safe key was turned? Any thoughts?

2 comments:

Capcom said...

Interesting thoughts here, and also the title! :-D

I like how you have compared the fertility problem with HIV, and it would make sense that TPTB might pull a parallel to a current event for that thread, like they have for so many others. It also acts like how a body rejects a transplanted organ as well, does that have anything to do with the white cells? I don't know anything about that.

Great idea comparing the island's EM to chemo and rad treaments, I never thought of that! From first hand experience, I can confirm that it is a constant struggle to keep the white and red cell counts up during treatment so your body doesn't fall apart, and you are constantly getting juiced with shots for pumping up those numbers. And once you are far into treatment, the effects of the poisons on your body really start to affect you mentally too. Could that be like the EM sickness? And could all that relate to the purpose of the so-called vaccine on the island as well? Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever know.

I have always been on the mutated sperm side too! It would seem like a good device to introduce/explain the mutation of the fetus, otherwise why even make a deal out of it? Maybe just to play on the Jin/Sun relationship arc, but I don't know, it seems like mentioning it would have more to it than just that. Good thoughts!

Ezra James Sharkington said...

When someone gets an organ and the body rejects it, it means the body doesn't recognize the organ as "Self" and makes antibodies against it. It’s a complex process that my one semester of Immunology didn’t cover completely but it does involve white blood cells (B and T cells just to name a few) and a part of your blood called compliment.

I didn’t even think about the vaccine! Desmond said to Claire he thought the vaccine didn’t do anything. Maybe that is because it only does something for immune compromised people? The only other thing I can come up with is that it’s a placebo. Kelvin was the one who used it and got Desmond hooked on it because outside wasn’t safe outside even though it was because would take off his protective suit. It could have been used to keep the people down in the hatch so they would push the button. I really hope we get some answers…. I hold out hope for more island answers now that Locke is the “leader” of the others.