I have a ? for all those in the medical field

Is it possible for one bug to "piggyback" another? For instance, is it possible for a person to come down with an illness that seems typical and harmless like a cold or mild flu, that hampers their immune system just enough for another more lethal illness to invade? One that would not normally be able to attack if it was not for the other. A type of more lethal illness could be, for instance, one that makes a person bleed. The first would be something that spreads quickly, highly contagious, passing through the air in one way or another.

I know this sounds like an odd request, but I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.

I don't work in the medical area, however i know people who do.

It is possible just highly unlucky. Any bacteria can grow and populate it just depends if you get the medication to fight it off or your body is strong enough to do it alone.

We have alot of antibodies in our system to stop this kind of thing happening so chances are very slim.

However it is known for the immune system to attack itself. Scary thought :/

Hope i could help at least a little

The two discoverers of the AIDS virus wrote a book entitled, What They're Not Telling You About AIDS. In that book they described how Tuberculosis (an airborne disease) has an affinity for and attaches to the AIDS virus, potentially making AIDS airborne.

Cytomegalovirus is a conglomeration of (usually 5) viruses that are acquired at once.

So, the short answer to your question is "yes", you can get more than one illness being piggybacked on to one another.

Ok, is there a trojan horse senario as far as illnesses go by chance?

or maybe a time where your body could house one illness that lays dormant until another illness comes along that seems totaly harmless but opens a door to your immune system allowing the other to attack?


After reading this, I can see how odd this sounds and perhaps a little scary considering the times. Let me explain a bit as to why I have this curiosity. I had a dream that showed a very scary event. A lot of people got sick. At first they coughed/sneezed seemed no big deal. Then they would collapse on their death beds bleeding a lot. They did not last long after they collapsed...days at the most. It was frightning, but the moral I heard was that it was two illnesses, not one.

I am realy not looking for help deciphering my dream, I can do that just fine on my own. I am looking for help figuring out what illnesses could do that.

There were some who bled from their eyes, coughing blood, people slashing their wrists. It was very bloody, but it all started with a little cold like cough and sniffle.

reply to post by whitewave


Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Can you, think of an illness that would cause what I described by chance?

What a nightmare! I can't think of any diseases that would present like what you have described.

The bleeding disorder sounds like Ebola or Marburg but I don't know that either of those can be (or have been) piggybacked onto something else. I suppose anything's possible.

I'm just a nurse. I don't work with the engineering of pathogens. I know enough to know if something is likely to evolve naturally (the current novel flu is not one of them) but my mind is not evil enough to conjure up deliberately engineered deadly biological contagions.

Sending you a U2U of someone you might could check with.

Thank you, I appreciate that. I do think that I found what I was looking for though. I had to think a bit more on the dream which was not fun but necessary for me. Im not sure, honestly, that they were coughing blood, people just seemed to be bloody. I really dont want to get into details on the dream though.

I did however find my mystery illness. There are reports long ago of what they called the "Black Death" It was prior to the plague we read about or was mentioned in the vampire movie. It described everything I saw and fit the time line and death ratio. I was looking for something new, but found something very old instead.

Thank you all though.

I had to dig deep on this one but try something called acquired hemophilia

Hemophilia is a typically genetic disorder where one lacks certain parts of their blood called clotting agents. Depending on which factor you are missing several things can happen. Here are typical symptoms of the various types

easily bruised
slow blood clotting
inability to stop bleeding
pooling of fluids in the feet
pooling of uric acid in the joints

in severe and rare cases you can have spontaneously bleed

Now...hemophilia is almost exclusively genetic but in rare...and I do mean rare...cases people who develop lymphoma can spontaneously lose clotting agents and become a hemophiliac

Essentially when a person falls victim to lymphoma they begin immunosuppresive therapy. When they do this it has an extremely small but real chance of spontanesouly suppressing clotting agents

The problem is, lymphoma doens't fit your required MO to fit your dream. You are looking for a fast acting virus which is mild in nature followed but a highly virulent and lethal strain.

What I can think of...and it is stretching a bit is this

Influenza is the start. It is highly contagious and your white blood cells will attack it. While under attack, it is possible that something like Ebola (mentioned above) can strike as well. Ebola is very virulent and can be lethal.

Good luck

-Kyo

reply to post by KyoZero


Yea, I also must say the last thread I read on hear made me a bit nervous. The one about the new mystery illness in China. They say it is like the AIDS virus, but it highly contagious, spreading like the flu. It seriously lowers your white blood count. That could be the first bug then heaven only knows what it could couple with.