Brinens and Things

>>Dear lord, you're evolving into a quarian.<<

I think that makes me the opposite of a quarian, right? Quarians have too *little* immune function for their (non-suit) environment and get knocked flat by anything even vaguely pathogenic, whereas I have too *much* immune function for my environment and it ends up spilling over onto other things. I guess it kind of wraps around, amounts to similar practical effects.

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>>would have brought Rannoch's germs onto the flotilla with them<<

I thought the lore went that Rannoch didn't *have* pathogens, so the quarians were always going to be screwed by coming into contact with planets that did regardless of whether they were exiled or not.

*researches*

Quarian immune systems have always been relatively weak, as pathogenic microbes were comparatively rare in their homeworld's biosphere. Furthermore, what few viruses and other microbes were native to their homeworld were often at least partly beneficial to them, giving them a symbiotic relationship with their environment. After living aboard the Migrant Fleet for generations, the quarians' immune systems have atrophied further still due to the years in the sterile environment of the Migrant Fleet.

Kind of in-between, then.

(You'd think the "symbiotic relationship with their environment" thing would mean they'd have trouble living somewhere sterile.)

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>>the resilience of the normal immune system<<

I'm not sure what a normal frequency would be, nor am I entirely sure what my own frequency is. While I might be able to piece together some of what times I've gotten sick from diary entries, it's not all in one place and I doubt it'd be complete. I know I got sick a lot during my first couple years here, adjusting to the new environment and all those exotic Canadian germs I suppose; I know that in my late teens/early twenties I managed to go nearly three years between colds, but that I was surprised by this; I know that the cold at the *beginning* of the 34-month span was while I was still dealing with lingering aftereffects of a ""48-hour"" stomach virus (I've had two of those, about seven years apart, and they knocked me flat for weeks long after the rest of the household had recovered; for the second one, while the brunt of it was over after ~only~ eleven days or so, it was *two months* before I could eat enough to fully maintain my weight).

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>>barring chicken pox<<

Oddly enough, I never got chicken pox despite being exposed multiple times. When I was 12 my parents had my antibodies tested to see if I'd had it asymptomatically, and when it turned out I hadn't they got me a vaccine.

At the time, the ultra-long-term efficacy of the chicken pox vaccine was unknown and the medical recommendation was to get boosters every 10 years for life, which was why my parents had been reluctant to do it: they didn't want me to be dependant on boosters to remain immune, in case their plans to move to Canada didn't pan out (though as it turns out they worked) and my financial situation worsened (this one *did* happen) and when it came time to get a booster I wouldn't be able to afford one. They didn't go so far as to take me to pox parties, but left it until the last minute to give me a chance to pick it up naturally.

22-year-old me, having heard this story, figured it was probably time for her government-covered booster, and went and looked up vaccine schedules on a government website aimed at doctors. I learned that the ultra-long-term studies had since come out well, and the recommendation is now to get two shots and then never again (and if you're getting them at age 12, the "booster" is given only one month later; usually it's...I think it was ages 18 months and 4 years). I called up my doctor and asked to be given a second dose.

(Not entirely sure why it'd never come up before, but I *think* it's partly being an immigrant (multiple doctors in multiple countries having to coordinate to know what shots I've had when, making it easier to fall through the cracks) and partly being homeschooled (I've heard some stuff about it often being the school's job to provide catch-up vaccines, which would mean that non-school doctors aren't used to having to think about that).)

(It was autumn, and when I got there one of the questions they asked was *when* I'd had my flu shot, not *if*. She may have simply misspoken, but I was amused by the possibility that she (correctly) figured that the sort of person who would actively research which childhood vaccines she was missing and seek them out would also have gotten a flu shot.)

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The good news is, on my way back from work today I saw *visible drifts* of pollen floating through the air, which I'm pretty sure was not a thing throughout most of last summer and therefore suggests that this is not a summer-long issue. Maybe I'll still get July and August.