A random thought struck me earlier. Ponies, other than unicorns, handle objects mostly in one of 2 ways: With their hooves, which they walk around on, barehoof, all day, and their mouths, a direct line to their stomach, and through there, bloodstream. One has to wonder just how much crap, both figurative and literal, an average pony is exposed to every day. Not to mention indirect disease transmission from pony to pony via traces of saliva on doorhandles and household objects.

Do ponies visit the hospital more frequently than we do? Do they have strong-as-steel immune systems, or are diseases just more rare in the utopian state that is Equestria than they are in our world?

894287 This... is actually a very good question, though you left pegasus wings and semi-prehensible tails out of the equation.

894287

My knee-jerk answer is that they do have a better immune system.

They normally eat and digest hay, so it's hard to compare based on a straight comparison.

894287
I really believe they have an extremely fortified immune system
I work in one of the dirtiest, messiest, shitiest (literally) job there is and I hardly ever get sick
And then there is the Unicorns...

894294
That makes me think of another thing. Pegasi from Cloudsdale would probably have worse immune systems than pegasi from, say, Ponyville. Clouds probably don't hold bacteria very well.

Personal headcanon has it that ponies have a stronger immune system. Hospitals are primarily for physical injuries like broken bones, or mental breakdowns like Screw Loose. Then there are the "magically" induced conditions, like rolling in poison joke.

But for straight up bacteria and viruses? Ponies generally shrug it off. I have it that the "Wing Flu" they talk about in "Hurricane Fluttershy" just causes a cough and sore wings for two days.

894309 well, you need to remember pegasi as a whole are a hardy species, what with being able to stand colder temperatures than normal ponies.

I go with stronger immune systems. It makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint - ponies have been using their mouths to grip objects for thousands of years, and only ponies with strong immune systems would have survived the influx of bacteria, viruses, etc.

Personally, I would imagine that earth ponies have the strongest immune systems followed by the pegasi. Unicorns would have the weakest immune systems on the whole thanks to regularly using their magic to handle objects coupled with the possibility of self-medicating with healing spells.

894342 It was "The Feather Flu" and apparently it was serious enough to put Thunderlane and several other ponies in the hospital.

Fluttershy did pretend to have "The Pony Pox" though and claimed all she needed was bed rest.

894342 Feather Flu is, depending on your headcanon, a mild problem to a life-threatening condition. If it's analagous to human influenza, the same range also applies.
As for the immune system ideas, I'd go with the fact that the more you're exposed, the "tougher" you tend to be. Earth ponies would have all those advantages.
Personal anecdote: I used to play in the dirt (and other things best not mentioned) as a kid, and today it's almost like the bug bites me and it dies.

894388 Bah, personally I think that it was just Thunderlane and the others being wusses.

894400 I doubt it. After how harsh Rainbow Dash was on them I don't think Thunderlane and the others chickened out.

894399 894406 But they were avoiding work by going to hospital, and work with Rainbow Dash, who was focused on impressing the Wonderbolts.

894309

Probably not, because ponies move. Rainbow and Fluttershy both are from Cloudsdale. Then they would get sick easier because they moved to Ponyville. And what happens if they were born in Ponyville but their parents from Cloudsdale? Saying that they have a better immune system because of being born in Ponyville would be like saying someone who was born in California has darker skin even if their parents are from North Dakota and are pale.

894342

The Pony Pox?

894415 So are you saying that they should've risked making themselves even more sick just so Rainbow Dash could look good? If were me I'd say "I'm sorry that all you care about is some record and trying to impress the Wonderbolts but I'm not jeporadizing my health for you. I'm sick and there's no way I'm flying, better safe then sorry."

It's like coming down with the flu and showing up to work anyway. Sometimes it's better to take a sick day then to subject yourself to so much stress and make yourself feel even more sick.

894421 No, the Feather Flu made Thunderlane and others go to hospital, and I'm claiming it was because they just wanted to get out of working on that tornado.

Also, 894419 Environment does have an affect on immune system strength, and it can change over the course of one's life.

894425 Well at this point we're arguing about the personal integrity of characters we know nothing about, I personally think they were making a mountain out of a mole hill because they just didn't want to deal with task-master Dash.

894434 Well if so I can't say I blame them. Rainbow Dash was trying to break a record and not once did she say that she would be happy with just being able to lift the water up to Cloudsdale. Thunderlane and the others felt that Rainbow Dash was being a jerk and decided to pay her back by making her look bad.

That's of course assuming they weren't sick which considering how often Thunderlane was coffing it was likely that at least he was and well you know the old saying "Coughs and sneezes spread diseases."

894442 Then we have reached an agreement, both headcanons of Feather Flu being serious and not serious are viable.

894447 894442 All right, you two, kiss and make up.

894454 *Sigh* Fine...

Obamacare.

894287
Really, I'm not sure it would make that much of a difference in the long run. Getting stuff in your mouth happens all the time to us due to hand-to-face transfers, unless you're someone who carries hand sanitizer everywhere.

As a fun aside, try to keep track of how often you touch your face in the next hour. You'll be surprised.

Not counting poisons or parasites, or through sores, the mouth and gut can be pretty rugged and I can't see that much beyond those that would get transferred up from the ground. Dirt's pretty harmless and I'd imagine there'd be less reason to touch one's face if you're on all fours and there'd be sanitation practices for after stepping in anything gross. I'd be more worried about the nose and eyes, which are closer to where they're holding stuff, true, but any time you can so much as smell anything that might be contaminated, you're getting a face full of it.

894434

No, I mean there's also the Pony Pox mentioned in Hurricane Fluttershy.

I think I have *cough cough* the Pony Pox.

That was Fluttershy trying to get out of working. I think the others really were sick, because of when Rainbow went to Fluttershy's house. She probably visited them, too. And they'd probably rather work and have water than have blood tests and fluids and... maybe hospitals are different in Equestria, too!

I'd say their immunity is not much better than ours, except it goes in a different direction. I'd actually say not as better as ours since we already evolved technology to make us immune to evolving diseases. That's why I want to see if they have those immuno shots as well.

894287
Keep in mind, an immune system is something that gets stronger as it's tested. A lifetime of having to pick things up with their mouth would probably mean they're immune to the most common germs you'd deal with that way. Would they get sick more than modern, hygienic humans, even so? Maybe. Do they probably have better trained immune systems than we do, as a result? Probably.

It would be a nightmare when it came to any particularly dangerous disease. Maybe magic can solve that. Maybe it can't, and ponies just know to avoid/sanitize anything a sick pony has mouthed. A great deal depends on what you want to happen in whatever story you're writing. There's no real canonical clue one way or the other.

894287

Earthponies: Good immune system due to generations of working with many different types of biologic material such as plants, pears, and poop.

Pegasi: Having spent a large portion of their time on clouds, their immune systems may not be as fully developed as earthponies, and in fact may actually be much more susceptible to illness (the Feather Flu could be an example) and require more treatments.

Unicorns: While not having as strong as an immune system belonging to an earthpony, they still have one better than a pegasi, as unicorns are typically ground-bound as well.

They have normal immune systems.

The fact that they handle everything with their mouths and their filthy hooves (dirt roads lol) only suggests that they have all built up immunities to many transmissible diseases, such as the common cold and flu.

Notable things:

Sick stallion (see Hearts and Hooves day 'terrible cold' guy)
Twilight wipes Pinkie's bubble pipe before smoking it herself (MMMystery on the friendship express) This implies perhaps that unicorns tend to be more germophobic since they don't hold stuff with their mouths. And because they don't they probably have weaker immunity to diseases than the other races.
CMC tried to fake Applebloom being sick to get out of school (see Family Appreciation Day). Must be a common enough occurence for it to occur to them as a possibility.

894388
SPEAKING of the Feather Flu, I actually have a headcanon (stemming from other fanfics' (and a comic's) headcanons that I combined) about what it DOES to Pegasi. Quoting a story that I'm writing:

"Feather Flu could be disastrous for a pegasus pony.

It has all the symptoms of the regular flu, starting with a headache, cough, and sore throat, but the real indicator is when the tips of their feathers turn a shade darker than their original color.

Once that happens, Feather Flu is incredibly contagious to any pegasus near them!

Another aspect of the abnormal feather color is that it means that whenever the afflicted sneezes or coughs, their feathers will fly off, as if a feather pillow burst in the vicinity.

Once all the feathers are off, the pony is no longer contagious and they begin to get better.

However, they'll be as flightless as an earth pony for two months while the feathers grow back!"

6939218 Where did you dig up this thread?

6939229
google search.

894287

As far as I am concerned there are three types of injuries: physical; magical; and you are screwed injury no mortal science can help you, doomed to die injury.

I do think ponies are pretty resilient, fast healers and have good immune systems. But they still need to be careful - and like humans, sometimes they just get sick.