Author Topic: Why was Cassie immune?  (Read 6359 times)

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Offline Phoenix004

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Why was Cassie immune?
« on: August 13, 2008, 02:31:31 PM »
As far as I can recall, this hasn't been brought up before so I thought I'd mention it.

In book 29, Ax falls ill because of a malfunctioning gland in his brain which in turn causes the rest of the Animorphs (except Cassie) to become sick. Obviously for the plot to make sense, Cassie couldn't be sick as well otherwise she couldn't be able to save Aftran and Ax. However, it is never said why Cassie may have been immune to whatever infected the other Animorphs. The only reason I could come up with was that since Cassie was born and raised on a farm, she might have a better immune system. This isn't a great theory, since Tobias' hawk body would probably have had a better immune system than Cassie and he still got sick.

So, any theories?
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Offline Qwerty the Charliecorn

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2008, 02:34:13 PM »
I don't remember whether or not the book mentioned her actually being "immune" to the disease. It's quite possible that she simply did not catch it, though very strange, since the other Animorphs did. Kids at school get sick all the time, but I don't always get it.

But yeah, it is kind of strange that she would be the only who didn't catch it.

Hmm...
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Offline Yorick Brown

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2008, 02:41:16 PM »
People are just immune. There will never be a 100% communicable disease. There will always be someone with an immunity.
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Offline Phoenix004

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2008, 02:50:19 PM »
I know people can just happen to be immune, it just seems strange that Cassie would just happen to be immune to an alien flu, especially since Tobias should have had a stronger immune system.
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Offline RYTX

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #4 on: August 13, 2008, 03:41:11 PM »
Why would Tobias have a stronger immune system?

Cassie spends most of her days working with sick animals, in addition to the protection exposure to various diseases provide, she's probably also had a lot of shots.
While it would directly repel a specific alien disease, it's still a boost to the system, can't hurt
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Offline Phoenix004

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #5 on: August 13, 2008, 03:43:28 PM »
Cassie doesn't kill and eat wild rodents on a daily basis.
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Offline RYTX

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2008, 03:48:07 PM »
uh-huh.
You also will note that birds are typically more suspectible (sp) to diseases that humans have cleaned away by cooking food.
One of many key points in the difference in live spans
« Last Edit: August 13, 2008, 03:54:57 PM by RYTX »
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Offline Duff

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2008, 03:53:03 PM »
well it seems like she was one of the few that actually got all her shots lol, maybe those helped

Offline morfowt

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2008, 06:09:40 PM »
she's probably also had a lot of shots.

exactly what I was thinking.

Offline Estelore

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2008, 06:51:54 PM »
"Stronger" and "weaker" in immune terms is fairly subjective, too. It isn't so much that either Cassie OR Tobias has a 'stronger' system. Rather, they are geared to combat different TYPES of diseases.
Cassie might be immune to MORE diseases than Tobias (or vice-versa), but he might be immune to DEADLIER diseases, things that would kill her in a day or two, and still be vulnerable to bird-borne illnesses that she would NEVER encounter or experience, because they aren't communicable to humans.

It isn't comparing apples to oranges. It's more like comparing apples to giraffes.
There is really NO comparison.


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[By the by, the only reason I can talk on this subject at all: I've committed a great deal of my free time pre-RAF to working at a wildlife rehabilitation centre *irony*, and I was given a half-ream of 'reassurance' information that 'guaranteed' that certain illnesses weren't a personal hazard to the workers.
I learned which diseases were dangerous to each animal with which I worked, and I was thoroughly educated on the dramatic differences between the immune systems of different animals. I did a lot of hands-on work with birds, more than any other animal.

Suffice to say, if you need to know ANYTHING about the digestive, circulo-respiratory, nervous, immune, or skeleto-muscular systems of birds, ESPECIALLY raptors, I am an excellent person to ask.]
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Offline wotw2112

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2008, 07:35:13 PM »
People are just immune. There will never be a 100% communicable disease. There will always be someone with an immunity.


Here I have to agree with Yorick.  It probably has little to do with the strength of her immune system.  It's more likely that she just happened to be naturally immune to the disease.
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Offline Liz

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #11 on: August 13, 2008, 08:11:48 PM »
I always chalked it up to Cassie's stronger constitution from doing physical work a lot.  That and pure dumb luck.

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2008, 03:56:57 AM »
I've always figured it was dumb luck, but also, like it's been mentioned, she probably got a lot of shots, and has a strong constitution.
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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #13 on: August 14, 2008, 12:25:17 PM »
cassie seems to be special in many ways, (remember mm4) and im sure its just part of the plot, who knows maybe she just got sick last like after the book ended or something.

But everyone else has valid points with the shots and being involved with animals and things like that so i shall not repeat them.

Offline Estelore

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Re: Why was Cassie immune?
« Reply #14 on: August 14, 2008, 02:37:35 PM »
Maybe K.A. was struggling between whether or not she should make Cassie a Mary-Sue.  ;)
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