What sort of illnesses or afflictions do you see the Turtles having.
 

We have seen the Turtle sick before and there are people who have gone as far saying Donnie has been sickly since childhood. Or Raph is sensitive to the cold and such.

Those are more or less why not assumptions. But what sort of illnesses or afflictions can you see the Turtle's having? It doesn't need to be an illness, it can be a disorder.

For example, I can see Leo having Asthma as a child. This is an affliction he grows out of with help of training regimen, but when he is really stressed out he sometimes finds himself having asthmas attacks.

Raph, I can see having heart disease. Moderate intensity exercise alone for over 150 minutes a week has been known to cause heart problems in men.

Donnie, I can see maybe having psychogenic fevers (stress related fevers) because of all the stuff he carries on his shell. From making sure things in the lab are fixed to making sure they have various antidotes, serums, or whatever else they need to save the day. At times he foregoes eating and sleeping because he absolutely needs to have the solution to whatever problem their facing.

Mikey, I can see winding up with type 2 diabetes from all the Pizza he eats. Yes, all the Turtles eat pizza rather frequently, but Mikey eats it to a near obsessive level. So yes, I can see him becoming diabetic.

Framingham risk scores with high hdls which can increase from moderate exercise will actually lower your ten year risk of heart disease.
But the others make more sense to me

None. Their antibodies and immune system is probably so sky high from living in a sewer, nothing can touch them.

I agree with you fully here.

Make them lean, green and efficent killing machines, or pizza eating machines depending on the verison :lol:

Dick Grayson has some ideas.

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/jlNfDrUqwm...1LgcY7cQ=s1600

hard to know what they could be affected by given that they are mutated into something making them no-longer a natural lifeform of the planet, so though they are still turtles, all the rules may not apply. Same I suppose if you wanted to consider the part human infused incarnations.

Edit: LOL to the above, actually I remember Nick's Mikey joking that they had Salmonella to Rocksteady when they were trying to distract him.

Realistically they'd all be suffering from D3 deficiency and have MBD since they rarely go outside while there's sun. Although they could get their calcium from human food since they can process dairy which normal turtles can't. And with that they might even be resistance or immune to the effects of oxalic acid and could eat spinach to add more calcium to their diet.

I don't think the Turtles would have any sort of disorder or condition, at least not same as a human.

Taking into account the realities of their life, honestly, I think one of their biggest dangers is deadly infection and a lack of access to antibiotics. At best, maybe a very limited supply of expired antibiotics that have lost potency. But since people are instructed to take all of it, it would probably be rare to find.

Running around a city and its sewers wearing no footwear and little to nothing else and involved in the battles they get into? Someone is bound to end up wounded at some point, be it from a fight or just a random injury, and end up with a nasty infection they can't cure on their own or get help for and end up with sepsis. Even if their immune systems are super strong due to built up resistance... you aren't going to overpower a nasty infection that needs the right antibiotics and medical care.

If I was a human friend, the possibility of that would quietly terrify me; seeing something like that happen to a friend and you can't get them help. And given how agonizingly painful an infection can be, it would be a horrible way to go.


Lack of dental care could also lead to similar problems.

I suspect Splinter would have drilled the proper dental (and basic general) hygiene into them at an early age, for exactly that reason. In fact, I have considered this question a time or two, and come to a few conclusions- being reptiles, they would be immune to certain mammal-centric diseases (and parasites) like rabies or bedbugs (which are only attracted to warm-blooded victims), and probably most immuno-viruses. They also are likey immune to (but could still carry) salmonella, since they ARE turtles, and would be more likely to accidentally give it to human friends. They could possibly transmit other diseases found in sewers, like E coli. I am sure this is why Splinter was always such a stickler for keeping the lair spotless in the FW cartoon- as a rat, he'd be suseptible to certain illnesses they might carry, and probably didn't want fleas or roaches bringing germs into their home, either! Also- rats and bubonic plague. Just a thought.....

A serious vitamin D deficiency :tlol:

I've always disregarded the salmonella thing with them. It can make good material for a joke, but given that they aren't regular little reptiles crawling around on their bellies and instead are bipeds who bathe and practice proper hygiene regularly (I'd hope!) it's probably highly unlikely for them to carry it (at least not on their skin) since the bacteria comes from a reptile's intestinal tract.

I mean, after all, humans can carry it (or related strains) too along with other bugs and don't pass it on unless they are lax on washing the hands. It's probably safe to snuggle these guys without fear of having diarrhea later. lol (Unless they've been traipsing through the grosser parts of the sewer... then maybe take a rain check. :trazz:)

Given their exposure to human germs and their human diet, their gut bacteria may have changed from that of regular Turtles at first to now resemble something more similar to humans anyhow. (So is the regular reptile salmonella even still present? Or would other more human bacteria have out-competed it and taken over?) Not that humans don't carry bacteria that can make each other ill, but the Turtles may be less of a risk to us than normal reptiles.



Definitely agree with the vitamin D deficiency. Although I guess they don't have to worry about mask tan lines...?

Actually, reptiles USUALLY only carry salmonella if kept in unsanitary (ie dirty) living conditions. In other words, if their tanks or ponds are not kept clean and healthy (stagnant water, poo not cleaned out, food particles left, etc). And yes, it is carried on their skin and claws, mouths or whatever. So, living in a SEWER.... Yeah. Kind of a hot-bed of that particular nasty. (I had to research this whilst doing major turtle-y type science cramming for my fics.)

I think I'll go with my earlier comment on them not being regular turtles and choose to go with them not having that :)

Perhaps, but they are still essentially reptiles, in that they are canonically (in most versions) cold-blooded and still tuck in their heads and hold their breath longer than humans.

Turtles by nature of capable of picking up any kinds of diseases. I'd tell you which but I'm not a vet. :D

MBD means multiple brain disorder = retardation :lol:

"Given their exposure to human germs and their human diet, their gut bacteria may have changed from that of regular Turtles at first to now resemble something more similar to humans anyhow. (So is the regular reptile salmonella even still present? Or would other more human bacteria have out-competed it and taken over?) Not that humans don't carry bacteria that can make each other ill, but the Turtles may be less of a risk to us than normal reptiles"

I hope to God they shower now and then.....and prolly brush their teeth too :P

The mysteries of life :

-do the TMNT bath ?

-how does people not realize that BW is Batman ?

-are there toilets on Death Star ?

-is Elvis alive ?

When it comes to Turtles MBD stands for Metabolic Bone Disease.:roll:

It gave me a chuckle anyway :D

I think given the environment they live in, yes, salmonella would still be present, along with a host of other nasty human dieases like e coli, tetanus, and bubonic plague, even if they never get any of those themselves. Doesn't mean they can't still carry or transmit it to others through contact, though. I'm fairly certain they could not contract rabies or other mammal-specific dieases, though. It would be interesting to know if they could get anthrax or parvo.

With these boys living in a sewer, I'm surprised they don't get tetanus with all the injuries they'd receive on a regular basis, even just in training-based combat.

And along with the lack of antibiotics listed above, they would basically have had no vaccinations whatsoever, so god only knows what they could get.

There would be an issue of food scarcity, probably having to only go up to dig in dumpsters (or Splinter doing it for them if he only decides to let them loose when he decides they're "ready" to kill Shredder), so alongside undernourishment, they would have...all the vitamin deficiencies. Finding clean water would probably be harder to find than food, so that would affect every single aspect of their health from cleanliness to actual hydration.

Honestly, it's a wonder they're even able to climb and jump around buildings like they do. All things considered, their health should be an absolute garbage fire.

And, on top of their only socialization be each other and Splinter...having garbage fire social skills. They'd just be a little pack of overworked, under socialized, very sick gremlin children.


I'm going to drop this here for diseases they'd risk as turtles...with a note of warning to some...rather unpleasant prolapse that we don't want to think about :teek:

Basically, it doesn't matter if a sewer is the most secure hiding place...because that's the only "pro" to the list. I for one vote for April getting them all the hell out of there, because Splinter would be having some health problems on his own...on top of the "I'm going to raise these four mutant children to know nothing in life except continuing a toxic revenge cycle and not give them a path forward afterwards" psychosis.

Lesson of the day: Keep your children and your reptiles and your mutant reptile children away from literal systems of refuse, it is a bad idea.


With all this in mind, I'd actually like to see a "Shredder turns the turtles against Splinter" story line that takes all this in mind. There's no honor in slaughtering four boys that are sicker than sick dogs, even if he would consider it a mercy kill. Besides, I imagine there'd be a much greater satisfaction in collecting up his enemy's students and giving them a healthier lifestyle and greater security of livelihood? Gloating "Ha, look how much better of a teacher and caregiver I am than you!" when he presents them stronger, healthier, cleaner, and buffed up?