Contents 1 Theories 2 The 'Who believes in the sickness' discussion 3 sickness 4 Jigsaw spoiler 5 Spelling error 6 The Constant 7 sickness in 3rd and 4th season 8 The term 'carrier' 9 Temporal displacement 10 Hurley and Mental Illness 11 "Personality changes" section 12 Deleting various bits 12.1 Lost Experience

Theories Edit

I remember having a theory sometime during the first season, that the sickness only affects males. For some reason I discarded that theory, and now I'm thinking that it does sound plausable. No females have been known to be infected, Rousseau managed to stay un-infected even though the sickness wiped out everyone else in her research team, and she was the only female researcher in the group. As for the vaccine, we haven't seen any females being injected with it. If the vaccine was meant for Claire in Maternity Leave, there probably would have been easier places to stick it in. The Óthers might also be looking for a cure, which might be the reason for the kidnappings. The vaccine itself isn't a cure, more likely it provides protection against the sickness or inhibits it's effects as Desmond was pumping that stuff into his arm (probably) on a daily basis. If the vaccine cured the sickness, it probably would be a one-shot deal.

The only thing against this theory I can think of is, that Ethan told Claire that there wouldn't be enough vaccine for her... but one should never trust anything The Others say! ;)

The 'Who believes in the sickness' discussion Edit

I guess the more important question is who *knows* about the sickness, Jack probably thinks the whole thing to be ravings from 'crazy mamas'. None of the survivors really know enough to believe or not to believe, and we, the viewers, don't really enough about any other faction to accertain what their stance to the sickness is. I mean, just because Ethan wants Claire to believe that there's a sickness, it doesn't mean he actually thinks that himself. Claire is probably just overprotective of her baby, I remember myself thinking similar things at one point with no factual evidence. Maybe some rewording would be in order in this level2 article header. --skks 16:54, 14 March 2006 (PST)

imo, the sickness issue can be reduced to if it's real or not;

• if the sickness is real (i personally believe it is), then why haven't the fuselagers become ill? immunization prior to the crash? after the crash somehow? natural immunity?
• and if it isn't real, then why the charade? and if it isn't real, something to consider is if the others (and desmond) consider it real or not? --kaini

Believing has nothing to do with knowledge! The whole point of this sickness in the show is to give a feeling of uncertainty. See Mindfuck. Neither we not the survivors know if it is real or not. And by that, it causes fear in the people on the island. Because they believe in it. At least some of them. And Believing is a big topic in the show... As opposed to the black and white color theme, the topic of the sickness is not either-or - at least not for the various people on the island. Probably "the others" are the only ones that know, the others ;-) - I mean the survivors of the crash and Danielle and maybe even Desmond - can only believe... --aurora glacialis 01:09, 15 March 2006 (PST)

A bit of a grammar error there before on my part, I meant that most of the survivors don't even know of the sickness. They can't believe or not believe in something they haven't even heard of. --skks 00:26, 16 March 2006 (PST)

If Henry Gale is to be believed, he was on the island for 3 months before his wife got sick. I believe Danielle's expedition was on the island quite some time also before being striken. The 815 survivors were on the island less than two months, by contrast. The sickness could have a prolonged incubation period. So the "none of the crash survivors got sick, therefore the sickness isn't real" reasoning doesn't necessarily hold.

Just a thought, maybe some of the survivors are "sick"; maybe it has effects on mental stability like syphilis can if left untreated, Neurosyphilitic Disease. Under 10% of all untreated patients will be affected by neurosyphilitc disease. The central nervous system is adversely affected which generally results in paralysis and/or paresis (insanity).

• The sickness could be mentel. If the person believes they have got "the sickness" then they have the bug/illness starts to kill them slowly. If they dont believe they have it then they dont get ill. So far not one of the losties has become sick so none of them believe it exsits.
• It seems to me that Michael has gotten 'sick'. Perhaps he contracted it while out looking for Walt? MrEkitten 20:16, 14 May 2006 (PDT)

• • I'd have to disagree. Unlike say Ethan or Goodwin, Michael displays genuine regret and emotion when apologizing before shooting Anna Lucia. Goodwin would just presumably have gotten that thousand yard stare and then turned and shot her. --Frieze 10:07, 16 May 2006 (PDT)

sickness Edit

Did anyone notice in the final episode of season 2 that Michael had mysterious wounds (oozing) on his hand and forehead. Could this be part of the sickness?

Jigsaw spoiler Edit

Should people know that "There is no sickness", according to the jigsaw puzzles?  —Thinker   22:59, 27 February 2007 (PST)

• Yep --Blueeagleislander 23:08, 27 February 2007 (PST)
  • This is making me think, maybe infertility really is the only sickness. Then again, maybe it's all just a ruse. Ionno. |†|[ K i t s u n e ]|†|
• I added a spoiler warning --Ghtx 11:29, 2 March 2007 (PST)
  • I'm still wondering why there is a spoiler warning? - TheAma1 15:14, 7 February 2008 (PST)

Spelling error Edit

Sorry, this is a really pedantry detail, but shouldn't "Medical Incongruencies" read "Medical Incongruences"? Or better still "Medical Incongruities".--TechNic 19:36, 12 March 2007 (PDT)

The Constant Edit

Should there be some mention of this episode on the main page, given the popularity of opinion that the sickness is explained by it?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Tuttlemsm (talk • contribs) .

sickness in 3rd and 4th season Edit

isnt it strange that the sickness was not mentioned in 3rd and 4th season? and do you think it is somehow connected with time travelling? (which seems to be a big issue in s04) --Running 12:12, 7 March 2008 (PST)

The whole thing became so contradictory and confusing, I don't think the writers know what they want to do with it, and have largely forgotten about it. Merick 10:48, 26 March 2008 (PDT)

I disagree. In the March 21st edition of the Official Lost Podcast, a viewer question refers to Minkowski and Desmond's conditions as an "illness," and the producers note that it is a particularly appropriate term to use, and mention the fact that there has been mention of an illness on the island before. This would indicate that maybe they are one and the same, thus the plot thread is still alive and well. (IMHO, I don't believe that they have introduced any plot threads that they have or will ever just "forget about." They are far to meticulous for that.)—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jacob's Lather (talk • contribs) .

While I agree that the show probably hasn't "forgot" the sickness, and the time disorientation may turn out to be it, the show certainly has dumped ideas. In many cases I think they just push things to the back burner, but in the case of things like Isabel it seems pretty clear they changed their mind and are hoping everyone just forgets it ever happened. --Minderbinder 13:15, 2 April 2008 (PDT)

The term 'carrier' Edit

In medical terms, a carrier is someone who is infected with a disease but who displays no symptoms - Wikipedia Reference Rousseau described both the Others and Jin as potential 'carriers' for the disease, this doesn't mean that they necessarily displayed the same symptoms as her fellow researchers, only that they were capable of infecting others. She never had any direct contact with the Others before Ben kidnapped Alex but left her unharmed. Likewise, although Jin never showed any homicidal tendencies towards them, she believed him to be a possible source of the infection. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Nucampe (talk • contribs) 2009-05-07T17:10:29.

Temporal displacementEdit

At some point I'm hoping we can make brief note of "temporal displacement" and its key feature in season 5's time shifts and link to the main article.Mister vijay 03:34, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Hurley and Mental IllnessEdit

I wanted to suggest or discuss adding mention here of Hurley's struggle with mental illness. In season 1 he reveals that he has spent time in a mental institution and since then we have revisited the idea of whether or not he's "crazy" or "cursed" over the course of the series, although these may be separate there's a relationship between them although tenuous. It was revealed that there's a clear connection between his experiences as a patient at the Santa Rosa Hospital and his experiences which others describe as mental illness and the events and mysteries of the Island not only through the reappearance of Dave but also most clearly in Jacob's assurances to him in the finale about his supposed illness. All this material need not be mentioned here because it goes into other things but I personally would suggest that some brief mention of it be place here and a reference to Hurley's entry. Oh and Libby too although that is pretty unclear what's up with that. Thoughts?Mister vijay 04:41, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

"Personality changes" sectionEdit

Is this section really necessary? I mean, Locke being MIB has nothing to do with the Sickness; it's just MIB's shapeshifting ability at work. And as of right now, there's no evidence to connect Ben's "change" post-Temple healing with the Sickness either. Personally, I think it'd be better if we just deleted this section altogether, since it just seems really irrelevant to the this article. Thoughts? Wstonefi 05:55, March 3, 2010 (UTC)

Well, look at Sayid ignoring Claire's attack on Kate. As well as the way he speaks to Ben after killing Dogen.--Gonzalo84 17:23, March 17, 2010 (UTC)

• I'd like to throw this out there. Sayid "became sick" after he "died" by drowning in the pool, yes? This is when Dogen identified the darkness that was growing in him. Looking back on the end of Season 4, Claire has an extremely similar story. Think about it. Claire's house gets blown up with a rocket launcher by a mercenary; the explosion was at least the same size as the explosion that killed Kate's Stepfather. Yet somehow, Sawyer comes across Claire almost completely unscathed, and she magically wakes up 10-15 minutes later? Then, what's better is, in the following episode, she wanders off into the jungle following Christian, and then appears to be perfectly at ease when Locke sees her in the Cabin with Christian. I think we might be able to connect the sickness directly to being killed and "brought back to life." We don't have any solid proof that Rousseau's team was "killed" under the temple before emerging, but it is certainly a possibility. --Diabolical Genius 06:05, March 18, 2010 (UTC)

It's not strictly necessary persay but was meant to document changes to characters on the Island. There's a lot of other stuff in the article too that isn't really related to the Sickenss -- such as Aaron getting sick, the effects of the Island on the Kahana, etc. The vaccine and quarantine warnings may or may not be related, etc. Spiral77 05:41, March 18, 2010 (UTC)

• I agree, there's a bunch of stuff in this article that has nothing to do with the Sickness as far as we know. I think all that stuff should either be deleted or transferred to more appropriate articles. IMO, this whole page needs a major cleanup too, it's really disorganized. Maybe I'll get around to it when I have some time. Wstonefi 03:51, March 19, 2010 (UTC)
• Since the sickness is still a big mystery, it's nice to have all the possible clues to it in one place. A lot of them may turn out to be red herrings, but we may not know which ones until the end. I agree that the MIB impersonation is not related to the sickness. Ben's 'change' could go either way. The quarantine, the injections, etc seem likely to be related. The French team seem clearly affected, but Claire and Sayid's situations are complicated by other factors. I would get rid of the shapeshifting mention, but as for the rest it's hard to draw the line. Maybe put the stuff that isn't clear cut into a carefully worded separate section, but still on the same page. --Jackdavinci 08:50, March 19, 2010 (UTC)
  • True-- a lot of those things still are pretty unclear. I guess it's probably better to wait until the show's over and we know everything there is to know before trying to clean up/revamp this article. Wstonefi 13:39, March 19, 2010 (UTC)

Deleting various bitsEdit

Much of this info is speculation from before when we know what the Sickness was. Other bits are detailed descriptions of Danielle's expedition, most of which exceeds the article's scope. --- Balk Of Fame ♪ talk 11:03, September 4, 2010 (UTC)

Lost ExperienceEdit

I also removed the following bits, which really have no part in this article: --- Balk Of Fame ♪ talk 11:32, September 4, 2010 (UTC)

Added by Hen-Regale

• The Global Welfare Consortium accused the Hanso Foundation of spreading a transgenic/mutated strain of meningococcal disease from their primate research facility in Zanzibar to the local African human population. Dr. Eliza Vasquez found something unusual in Alvar Hanso's blood work which could seriously impact his health.
• Apollo Candy contains something that aids in viral spread, and disguises this through its acidic ingredients. According to Dr. Hackett, this is related to drug reformulation trials of Project Sumo.
• Villagers of Filan (?) and Vetul-Milani (?) believe they have been infected by a virus transferred from macaques. The Hanso Foundation recruits in the Sri Lanka Video are told they will give them a vaccine.