Medicine in Stargate

[thekillman]

we have 20 episodes over 1 year approx. about twice a month, some take place in rapid succession, others take place over many weeks. A hundred days even over 100 days, or almost a third of a year. how interesting is it to see someone have a cold? the biggest chance for colds and diseases is inbetween the eps, as the most time is available in that timeframe.

and seeing their travelling to many alien worlds, it's safe to say their immune system is better than most's

[iamdragonrider]

It's just not realistic to cover someone's sniffles in an episode, unless it's essential to the plot, like the season 2 ep one false step where a cold was thought to have infected the people of the planet.

Jack's knees are a commonly known infirmity.

For the record though, most everyone that goes to the gate is a member of the US military, and is subjected to basic fitness and health screening. If they don't pass, they would be grounded until they did pass.

As far as the medical tech, Atlantis is nice, has lots of cool toys, but SG1, I don't know where they found half the stuff. That ventilator they used on Carter in Entity looked like something they dragged off the set of M.A.S.H. and not something you'd find in a modern medical facility of a modern US milatary base. The defibrillator is an other antiquated museum piece. And they often misuse medical equipment and do things that are nice and dramatic, but would probably risk lives in the midst of a medical crisis.

I do wonder if any of the medicinal plants and things they find ever make their way into the mainstream pharmaceutacal companies, like the tech makes it's way slowly into the jet engine and other industry. A lot of advancies in engineering, medicine, and propulsion among other fields have occured because of inventions in the field of battle. Small, carefully controlled releases could have big impacts in the world.