A parallel universe thing could work too. A universe where water is replaced with something else and which is incompatible with human life could render a "visitor" from that universe incompatible with our water-based one. That would make an interesting plot actually. Girl somehow swaps with her parallel, and is unable to tolerate our water-based atmosphere. The problem with both of these (parallel universe and virus plotlines) is that the girl would probably be dead before anybody worked out what was going on, let alone what to do about it. I mean, some girl somewhere swells up on contact with water. Nobody is going to realise that's what is causing the issue because there is no medical precedent for it. So she would be dead before anyone realised. They might not ever discover the cause. It's not like they would test for it in post-mortem. You could put some back-story. Maybe it's happened before, and the mortician accidentally spilled some water on the cadaver and the skin burned, which led to experimentation and a realisation of what had happened. Then when this girl started burning on contact with water, there was a precedent so they knew what was going on. This is starting to sound implausible again though in my opinion.
Very true, especially since, as mentioned previously, the OP seems to be setting this in the UK, which ranks highly for humidity thanks to it being on an island. The idea of an intern spilling water on a cadaver and discovering it to be not human at all does sound intriguing though, something like a hybrid between Alien Autopsy and Changeling lore.
Good point. I think the most plausible explanation for all this would be if the affected person travelled to our universe deliberately, with the knowledge that they would not survive in our atmosphere, and already prepared for this. Though it is then a very different story. I would read this story. It sounds like an episode of Fringe.
When I read that, I imagined it being a bid to end their life. Certainly a space suit with their equivalent of air (with the compound they're compatible with mixed into the air itself) would circumvent the problem for a while, that said, the idea of someone else chronicling their journey to understand the alien's origins and thought process would be extremely intriguing. Yeah, reading about them studying the cadaver like William Harvey or Leonardo da Vinci did back in the day, only with mass spectrometers and other gear to understand the composition at a compound level.
I'm strongly reminded of rapey Ryan in this thread, just saying.... That aside a human with a water allergy would die in infancy because A) the human body is full of water, and B) even if we somehow got round that the human body has to have about four pints a day As a realistic or even plausible plot goes it's impractical, unless you go down the she's actually an alien route
I have an idea! What if the mother has munchausen by proxy and she tells everyone her child is allergeic to water, but she is secertly poisoning her child to make it seem like she has an allergy to water? https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/munchausen-by-proxy
Come to think of it, such a child would never even survive childbirth. The baby is likely to get amniotic fluid in its nose while in utero after all. Not to mention being in excruciating pain for extended periods can cause organ failure.
O OK thanks, but I recently saw him on another forum and is it plausible that he's still up to his old tricks? Lemme start a dozen threads to find out.
Well babies are surrounded by amniotic fluid in utero, so it would already be dead. Unless, of course, all of the amniotic fluid had been replaced by coke.
mashers was replying to my jibe about this part of the original post Since it is possible to die from pain, and babies are not as tough as adults, I don't predict high odds of survival.
this isn't medically possible. our body contains water. If she is allergic to water then it means that she will die instantly from the moment she developed her immune system inside her mother's womb. maybe try making a twist like for example: she is not really a human being and is an alien from outer space. no one knows it at the start of the story.
Except nobody would believe the "allergy to water"--the mother's mental illness would be pretty instantly obvious.
The baby receives some of its immunity through the umbilical cord. At some point I guess it will transition over to the baby’s own immune system, but even then it will only have the antibodies it got from the mother. It would take time for the baby to develop its own immune responses to things, and I assume that would only happen after the baby has been born and is exposed to the environment. As far as I know autoimmune conditions and allergies only develop after the baby has been born, not in utero, but I might be wrong about that.
Guys, munchausen by proxy! Think about it. Most of us (except mabey the OP) have came to the reasonable conclusion that you can't be "allergic" to water. So, the next best thing, aside from a fantsy novel approach, where a creature is allergic to water, is munchausen by proxy. And if you don't know what that disorder is, ita mental disorder, in which a person believes a love one is sick, when in reality she is healthy. And the caretaker will abuse the "siock" loved one by treating them with medication that is actually harming them, not helping them. A good story to look up is the story of Gypsy and Deedee. If you like true crime, check that story out.
I know the term, but the problem is no one would believe her. Like, the mom would take the daughter to the doctor with these mysterious illnesses, the mom would say, Honestly, doctor, I think she may be allergic to water and the doctor would say, No, that's not possible. And then where are we? Like, the mom might believe (kinda) that the kid is allergic to water. The kid could certainly believe it. But no one else with any sense will, so...?
What about this is she is allegic to drinking water? The water in her body does not make her sick bathing in it won't make her sick. But drinking it does make her sick.
The oral tract is full of water. It is constantly producing saliva and mucous, which are made of water. Those substances have to go somewhere - you swallow them. Which is exactly the same as drinking water. So she would die anyway.
Ok. But since the OP wants to be medically accurate, now explain from a scientific standpoint how your solution works.
