Would time travelling either kill us or kill the rest of society?

402 viewsBiologyOther

I read somewhere that going back in time would mean that we would infect the populace with the viruses and bacteria we harbour in our bodies. And we are also vaccinated against other diseases e.g smallpox using poxvirus.

if we were to travel to the past, would we infect the locals who wouldn’t be immune and basically recreate the plague?

Can the diseases we are currently vaccinated against infect others? why / why not?

Can the other bacteria/viruses that exist in our bodies cause a deadly outbreak? eg: flu / strep A

Additional scenario: What would happen if we set foot on Sentinel island? What organisms on/in our body would be fatal to them or people in the past ( say 1000 years ago ) ?

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Only commenting on the biological feasibility.

There’s a lot of crap on our skin at any given time, outside our bodies and away from our immune system, so it doesn’t matter if we’re vaccinated from it or not, we still carry it, kind of like an army camped outside impenetrable city walls. This means that we _will_ spread everything wherever we go. All we have to do is go there. So, if we go to a time where there’s no immunity to something on our skin, they are screwed.

You are viewing 1 out of 6 answers, click here to view all answers.