Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

How could repeated exposure to another person's DNA be dangerous for a person

+0
−0

I want to create a world where tying yourself to a single partner would be considered irresponsible because it is potentially deadly. The more often two people come together and exchange DNA through kissing etc, the more likely for them to develop illnesses due to repeated contact with each others DNA. Naturally, the people would be either more social or more introverted. This would be because you either want to limit exposure to other people completely or you wish to have more variety in your life, thus lowering your risks overall. Contact could be limited by increased layers of clothing and more vigorous cleaning regimes, but I'm not sure how the biology would work.

Another risk is that repeated exposure to the DNA of another person could be used as a weapon - say a disgruntled ex repeatedly exposing their partner to their DNA to cause them to develop diseases and die. Also, if two people wanted to have a baby together specifically, how would they do so without risking either person's life if they are initially unsuccessful. Furthermore, if they are successful, how could I plausibly explain some form of resistance between parent and child to prevent children from being passed around or rotated through families to prevent people from becoming sick. After all, babies often drool, spreading their DNA rather effectively all over whatever they come into contact with.

What would be a way to make this repeated exposure dangerous without using too much handwavium and how would resistance to children/parents be explained.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/85646. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »