White Lightning Productions

Since Aticston brought it up, and thus it actually ended up in the script for about fourteen updates from now, I thought I should go down the list of ways lycanthropy can be transmitted.

BITE OR CLAW (from werewolf): Yes, proven. Apparently swift amputation of a wounded limb can prevent infection if done immediately.

BITING / CLAWING A WEREWOLF: "Man bites werewolf" is a joke, not a story. It doesn't do anything.

SPRAYING WEREWOLF BLOOD ON HUMAN: Yes, but requires extreme circumstances; the blood must get into an open wound on the victim AT ONCE. Apparently after a few seconds in open air the blood becomes non-viable for transmission. It -has- happened, but only a couple of times that anybody anywhere knows of. The Colorado Experiments showed that a direct injection of blood taken from a were into a human would transmit lycanthropy, but this is different from, say, wiping up a nosebleed.

WEREWOLF FUR: No. Swallowing werewolf fur, licking a werewolf, even rubbing an open wound against werewolf fur does not transmit. Fur is dead.

ORAL SEX (GIVING): Unknown, but probably not. No systematic experiments have been attempted.

ORAL SEX (RECEIVING): Unknown, but probably yes.

COUGHS, SNEEZES, OR OTHER AERIAL VECTORS: Definitely not, otherwise any werewolf with the Martian Flu would be Patient Zero of a furry pandemic.

BREAST MILK: Oh, so VERY unknown. We'd find out if this was the Milkmaid-verse, but PitW is slightly more serious than that.

Werewolf saliva on human open wound?

Kris has stated before that the contagion seems to be enzyme dependent. That's pretty vague, since there are enzymes EVERYWHERE on the body, including your saliva, sweat, and tears, but because a claw injury can spread lycanthropy that does suggest the vector is produced by nearly every cell of a werewolf's body. The vector seems unstable outside a host, however, so you need either a) direct transfer to a victim's bodily fluids in the case of exposed enzymes/cells or b) relatively fresh samples of a werewolf's bodily fluids (e.g. blood) which protect the vector for a time outside its host to get infection.

I wonder if anyone has tried next-generation sequencing, particularly RNA-Seq., on a lycanthrope. It would identify any variant RNA (hell, it can detect single nucleotide polymorphisms in individuals). Basically, if lycanthropy has any genetic basis (i.e. alters the human genome/transcriptome), it WOULD detect it. All it would take is a small sample of cells (preferably from a couple difference sources on the body since gene expression varies from tissue to tissue).\

EDIT: Actually, I've been thinking about this for a little while, and I wonder if the vector in question is a ribozyme(s) - an RNA based catalyst. Most biologists agree that RNA likely played the role most proteins do today in (VERY) early life since it can both act as a catalyst AND store genetic information. The ribosome, one of the oldest biological complexes, has RNA and protein components and the RNA components are arguable more critical to is function. Furthermore, RNA is very unstable and subject to degradation by RNases (which are EVERYWHERE on your body, particularly sweat, tears, saliva, etc.). It'd be a little harder to identify a ribozyme as the vector, too.

Oddly enough, the question of this becomes for us, not, "Does it break the mythos?", but, "Is there a joke in this?"