DX is a prion-related disease featured in The Lost World and mentioned frequently in tie-in material and merchandise for the film adaptation of the novel. Prions are the simplest disease-causing entities known, even simpler than viruses. They are protein fragments. They are so simple they can't even invade a body and have to be passively ingested.
In The Lost World[]
It was theorized by Ian Malcolm as well as Sarah Harding that the genetically-created dinosaurs on Isla Sorna developed a prion-related disease called DX based on records found on the island. The young dinosaurs were being fed goat's milk, which is very hypoallergenic; the problem arose when the InGen handlers fed ground-up sheep meat which was not hypoallergenic to the carnivores. The Compys were scavengers and used on the island as waste management by consuming the feces of other dinosaurs, thus spreading the disease over carcasses which would infect other dinosaurs. Eventually, all the Raptors were infected, as a single bite from an infected carnivore can infect another dinosaur which would eventually lead to the entire island dinosaur population being infected with the disease, ensuring the re-extinction of the dinosaurs.
Trivia[]
- It is possible that DX is the disease that had worried the Government of Costa Rica during the beginning of the novel, given that it is stated that the disease is not a virus or a bacterium. And as prions are a protein, one could well assume that it is this disease.
- In addition to this, Dr. Marty Gutierrez mentions that the mysterious disease affects peasants with unstoppable headaches. At the end of the novel, when Richard Levine is worried that he was bitten by a Compy, Sarah replied he may be fine but stated they would bring him to a doctor in San Jose.