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Q&A

How long could a human survive completely without the immune system?

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If the immune system of a healthy human just shut down completely and instantly (magic, nanotechnology, whatever), and after a certain time period it went back to normal, how much time without the immune system would be survivable?

There are real-world examples of people with severely damaged immune systems, but I don't know how total it was.

So, basically:

  1. What length of time would be immediately or almost immediately fatal? (so even restoring it completely would not save from a quick death)

  2. What length of time would be survivable but lead to long term (or permanent) consequences?

  3. What length of time would be completely healable afterward, even without modern medical treatment?

  4. What length of time would be unnoticed or almost unnoticed?

Assume the victim of this curse is not doing anything dangerous or unsanitary during its effects. (so no cuts, bruises, being in an unsanitary environment, etc.)

Of course, as we have no real-world data to measure it (AIDS-patients don't go from 100% to 0% in an instant), a rough Fermi estimation would be enough, but even for that, I have no idea where and how to start.

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/157289. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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