

In Trunks' future that had been destroyed by the Androids, Goku died from a
Heart Virus.

Even in the alternate timeline caused by Trunks warning the Z Warriors about
the Androids, Goku still contracted the Heart Virus but they already had a
cure for it given by Trunks. Yet in both timelines out of all the Z Warriors
Goku was the _only_ person to contract it.

Why is this? Was it a targeted attack on him by Dr. Gero (given the timing of
when it occurred)? Was Goku's diet a factor or was there something Saiyan wise
that made him more susceptible which doesn't apply to Vegeta and half-Saiyans?


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dragon-ball-z
Why was Goku the only Z Warrior to contract the Heart Virus?


It is Highly likely that the infection rate of the virus was just
exceptionally low. Infection rates vary from virus to virus. Some can only be
transmitted in highly populated areas due to their low contraction rate.


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answer


Well one theory I was told from a friend many years ago was that the virus was
always in Goku it just took years to affect Goku.


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It's not clearly stated, but there are a few things we can draw inferences
from.

When Goku succumbs to the effects of the virus in the battle with Androids 19
and 20 and Vegeta arrives to save the day, he criticizes Goku for his
recklessness, and specifically states that his use of the Super Saiyan form
accelerated his susceptibility. We are told many times, especially during the
Android/Cell saga (and beyond), that the Super Saiyan form is tiring and
exhausting, and requires a great deal of energy be used to activate. So much
so that Goku and Gohan dedicate their training for fighting Cell to figuring
out how to sustain the form indefinitely, endure it better, and save on the
activation energy. A training strategy that Vegeta is loathe to admit is
really quite clever.

The Z-fighters in general are in premium shape and would be most resistant to
viral infections (relative to the rest of the global population) by default.
But elevated levels of stress and exhaustion bring down the efficacy of the
immune system.

So what we can infer from this is that the other Z-fighters had strong enough
immune systems to fight it off, but Goku's failed when the virus
opportunistically exploited the downsides of the Super Saiyan form. Vegeta is
the only other fighter (not exactly a Z-fighter) we know that used a
similarly, if not even more, exhausting training regimen and combat form. But
he spent a great deal of his training time in outer space punching rocks, so
may have simply avoided transmission from Goku or others by practicing the
ultimate in social distancing.

There's also the simple fact that Goku is a Saiyan and not a Human, like the
rest of the Z-fighters. The particulars of his immune system may alter his
susceptibility (that it could infect two different species, Saiyan and Human,
is a bit surprising and may have taken time to mutate to transfer from one to
the other). Vegeta is, again, spared by social distancing. And Goku's family
is, presumably, spared by being human or half-human. Piccolo is presumably
spared by being Namekian and having inherited Eternal Youth from his father,
and just generally spending most of his time meditating on rocky spires in the
middle of nowhere.

Finally, most of the Z-fighters don't actually spend that much time together.
They usually train on their own or with a fixed partner, and come together
only to deal with new threats or special occasions (such as celebrating
victory over such a threat). Goku's only real training partners are Gohan,
Piccolo, and Krillin, most of which is either done on Roshi's Island or in a
wilderness devoid of other people; Goku and his family themselves live in the
middle of nowhere. Tien and Chiaotzu train together but separately from the
others and in general isolation; Yamcha is a lone wolf who started as a desert
bandit afraid of nothing but talking to women; Yajirobi hides with Korin, etc.
So most of them aren't even exposed all that often to each other, or even
other humans. This is particularly true in the time-skip to the arrival of the
androids, as everyone went off to train in their own ways (if at all).

So, again, social distancing seems likely to have protected everyone, with
Goku being the one unfortunate soul for which it didn't work out. Probably by
random bad luck, as it's not a 100% surefire protection, but also possibly
because Chi-Chi actually _makes_ him go out and do stuff in public like
getting a job, thus elevating his exposure. Whereas Krillin doesn't yet have a
family or known job at this point, and Vegeta mostly just trains and doesn't
even spend much time with his own family yet.


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