Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 It was my understanding that Tyrion was scared of getting greyscale after he fell in the water..... because the disease lived in the water?? OR is it the touching of the Stonemen that passes the disease? Why doesn't anyone on the boat with JonCon catch it from him? Is it airborn? Why would anybody be worried about an epidemic if you can only catch it from falling in a certain river at a certain point of the river? Why doesn't Shireen spread it to anyone either? I don't understand this disease from a scientific point of view......(i know some things are explained by 'magic' in the books, is this one of them?) How does greyscale spread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 I am appealing to the people on this forum who know everything about these books.....Please someone explain this disease to me :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elan Morin Tedronai Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 People seem to catch it from water, so I'd say it's waterborne. An example in real life might be cholera, which spreads trough contaminated water, for example contaminated water wells. (the guy who figured that out was name John Snow by the way!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kienn Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 From what we know, the river is full of the contagion, and infected people can spread it. However Shireen only had a childhood version which she lived through and common knowledge is that once the childhood version passes they're not contagious and will be fine as an adult - just horribly scarred. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 From what we know, the river is full of the contagion, and infected people can spread it. However Shireen only had a childhood version which she lived through and common knowledge is that once the childhood version passes they're not contagious and will be fine as an adult - just horribly scarred. ok yeah, but why doesn't joncon spread it on the close quarters of a river boat? Are you saying infected spread it.....how do they spread it, from touching, through saliva, airborn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elan Morin Tedronai Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Interesting as well is the fact that survivors of grey scale are immunised to the more dangerous grey plage, similarly to how cowpox was used as the worlds first vaccine, as it granted immunity to the much more deadly smallpox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faceless Man Friday Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 This is what the Wiki says http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Greyscale It seems all we know it that it orginates in damp climates; is fatal to adults; not fatal to children; no known cure and wildings believe survivors can spread the disease. But how? We don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elan Morin Tedronai Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 ok yeah, but why doesn't joncon spread it on the close quarters of a river boat? Are you saying infected spread it.....how do they spread it, from touching, through saliva, airborn? I doubt it spreads by touching. I think it might spread coughing because in this way little infected droplets are spread. Another possibility is though excretion. Hygiene in midle ages was poor. Germs pass through with excretion and this leads to another circle of infection. For example if the germs mix with the water people use for washing and drinking. Of course this is all speculation, as little concrete knowledge is known on greyscale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 So there is no evidence of it spreading from one person to another, but from cold damp places. So where is the danger in an epidemic? Are they worried that 1000 people will all go into the same basement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elan Morin Tedronai Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 ok yeah, but why doesn't joncon spread it on the close quarters of a river boat? Are you saying infected spread it.....how do they spread it, from touching, through saliva, airborn? Certain diseas only spread during specific periods of infection, that might explain it. Also, they might simply have good hygiene and sanitary conditions, which usually makes all the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elan Morin Tedronai Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 So there is no evidence of it spreading from one person to another, but from cold damp places. So where is the danger in an epidemic? Are they worried that 1000 people will all go into the same basement? Imagine one infected person somehow infects a resource used by many people, say a water well (as it's waterborne) many people will use that well and get infected as well. they in turn might spread it again to other water reserves infecting more people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Imagine one infected person somehow infects a resource used by many people, say a water well (as it's waterborne) many people will use that well and get infected as well. they in turn might spread it again to other water reserves infecting more people. Ok that makes more sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Imagine one infected person somehow infects a resource used by many people, say a water well (as it's waterborne) many people will use that well and get infected as well. they in turn might spread it again to other water reserves infecting more people. but.....ok so the river where Tyrion fell in is an affected section of the river? No one living near there uses that river water for anything? drinking, cleaning, nothing? Why isn't it spread all over Essos already? How much of the river is infected? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elan Morin Tedronai Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 but.....ok so the river where Tyrion fell in is an affected section of the river? No one living near there uses that river water for anything? drinking, cleaning, nothing? Why isn't it spread all over Essos already? How much of the river is infected? That seems to be the case. Germs (bacteria etcetera) do not necesarilly need humans to survive and reproduce, though they are often needed forit to spread to different areas. Whatever causes Greyscale might just find the river there to have good conditions to thrive, and thus it can be present. I can't tell you anything about how much it has spread in the river. Why it hasn't spread? It's probably prevalent in different parts of Essos already, if it can survive in the conditions. Just not everyone is infected, just like not everyone is infected with cholera or malaria or whatever disease. ButI'd say outbreaks happen along the continent. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FittleLinger Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I believe it can be spread by touching. IIRC, they were scared that they can get not only from the water, but from the stonemen themselves. As in, they were not only scared that stonemen could outright kill them, but also that they can infect them. And Connington always wears gloves, so he doesn't actually touch anything or anyone. Also, he doesn't seem scared that his precious Aegon can catch it from him, so at least he doesn't think it's airbourne. Which gives us two possible answers - it's either only from water sources, and the more likely IMO - water sources AND touching of the contaminated area of a person carrying it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 I believe it can be spread by touching. IIRC, they were scared that they can get not only from the water, but from the stonemen themselves. As in, they were not only scared that stonemen could outright kill them, but also that they can infect them. And Connington always wears gloves, so he doesn't actually touch anything or anyone. Also, he doesn't seem scared that his precious Aegon can catch it from him, so at least he doesn't think it's airbourne. Which gives us two possible answers - it's either only from water sources, and the more likely IMO - water sources AND touching of the contaminated area of a person carrying it. ok, so is there any rational reason why tyrion didn't get it? I guess it can spread by touching but not always? or maybe some people have an immunity to it? like some people have a strong immune-system or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blow My Horn Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 Greyscale seemed more like leprosy to me than anything else. I believe it could be passed by contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FittleLinger Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 ok, so is there any rational reason why tyrion didn't get it? I guess it can spread by touching but not always? or maybe some people have an immunity to it? like some people have a strong immune-system or something? Well, yeah, being exposed to a disease isn't a 100% chance you'll get it. For example, being around someone with a flu does not mean you'll absolutely get it. Immune system plays it's role, too. Also, it could have an incubation period, or to be dormant in you untill something triggers it later (which could be Tyrion's case in my pet theorette). There is another case - that some people are just carriers for some diseases, without actually showing symptoms themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzanna Stormborn Posted February 7, 2014 Author Share Posted February 7, 2014 Well, yeah, being exposed to a disease isn't a 100% chance you'll get it. For example, being around someone with a flu does not mean you'll absolutely get it. Immune system plays it's role, too. Also, it could have an incubation period, or to be dormant in you untill something triggers it later (which could be Tyrion's case in my pet theorette). There is another case - that some people are just carriers for some diseases, without actually showing symptoms themselves. right right, that all makes sense thx :) I guess it is just weird, that the only person we have seen, tyrion, who is exposed to basically the most contaminated area in the world, is fine when he comes out, or at least as far as they can tell at the time. I guess it just seems like, if the disease is so contagious and people are so worried about it spreading then why wouldnt GRRM show us someone who actually caught it....I just mean us seeing someone catch it right away would show that it is a force to be reckoned with and we should expect to see it coming later on.....I guess, IMO, it doesn't seem like greyscale will play a huge part in the next 2 books as far as widespread outbreak goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra of KotOR Posted February 7, 2014 Share Posted February 7, 2014 I belive there are three forms of the disease greyscale, grey death, and the grey plage. The grey plage is fast and kills every one it infects. Pentos lost like a third of its population to the plage after some infected rats ran off a ship into the city. Grayscale is a less deadly form that appers in damp climents. The measters seem to have found a way to stop the spead of greyscale in/on a person so they dont die. Wish we would hear about someone other than Shireen so I could belive that. The last is the most cofuseing. The grey death. Tyrion says the measters say that the grey death is just grey scale but thats not true. Grey death is in that river and starts in the extrimities. Also river is magic.I'll flip through Dance after I post this to check.Accideny posted to soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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