Polite Dissent

Y: The Last Man #30 “Ring of Truth, chapter four”
Brian K. Vaughan, writer
Pia Guerra, penciler

One of the secrets of the plague is revealed in Y: The Last Man #30. Dr. Mann has discovered that the monkey Ampersand, for some as yet unrevealed reason, is immune to the disease. Furthermore, his stool carries some plague proteins that have allowed Yorrick to remain protected.

At this point, Dr. Mann goes into a long spiel of technobabble that would make a Trekkie proud. Unfortunately, this technobabble obscures the science so it unclear whether Dr. Mann is talking about passive immunity or active immunity. In passive immunity, a patient is given antibodies from someone else. This has the benefit of kicking in quickly, but the protection only last for a few months. In active immunity, the patient is exposed to a small amount of protein from a particular germ and develops their own antibodies. This process takes longer to occur, but lasts years, if not forever. Active immunity is the basis of vaccination.

• Is Dr. Mann saying that Yorrick has absorbed protective antibodies from Ampersand? If this is the case then Yorrick’s protection is only temporary since passive immunity only lasts for about three months. Antibodies can be given orally, but the success rate has never been very high. It seems to work best for gastrointestinal diseases.
• Is Dr. Mann saying that Ampersand is secreting a plague protein that Yorrick has made an antibody against, and this is what has protected him from the plague? This makes a little more sense because this would be active immunity, like a vaccine. Immunity of this kind would last much longer — and may even be permanent — because Yorrick is making his own antibodies against the plague. (But then you’d think Dr. Mann would have been able to detect these antibodies). There are several oral vaccines available including oral polio vaccine (OPV) and oral typhoid, so the success of vaccination by this route is well established. Bear in mind that this would mean that not only is Ampersand protected against the plague, but that he is producing some plague proteins as well.

The medicine and science are sound and I’m eager to see what future issues will reveal about the nature of the plague.