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Maria Robotnik, a victim of Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome[1] (ＮＩＤＳ：先天性免疫不全症候群,Senten-sei Men'eki Fuzen Shōkōgun?, lit. "NIDS: Native Immunodeficiency Syndrome") is a condition mentioned in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. It is an incurable and fatal disease.[2]
Not much is known about Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, although it appears to render its victims physically weak and fragile, a condition which only worsens over time. Victims of N.I.D.S. thus require constant medical attention.[3]
Additionally, the low gravity onboard Space Colony ARK appears to be capable of mitigating the effects of Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome to an extent.[1]
History[]
Past[]
Over fifty years ago, Maria Robotnik was diagnosed with Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome and was not expected to recover from it. Back then, medical treatment for it was difficult to provide.[2] Medical research on N.I.D.S. was conducted aboard the Space Colony ARK, but they were unable to yield a cure.[2] New hope for this research came when Professor Gerald Robotnik accepted to lead Project Shadow. Gerald hoped that he could use the project's immortality research to develop a cure for Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome. However, the project failed when the military shut it down and killed or imprisoned those involved when they deemed the project's result, Shadow the Hedgehog, a threat.
The illness was researched by Gerald Robotnik. As in the games, others have tried to cure N.I.D.S. but only in recent years; Dr. Ivo Kintobor, Anti-Robotnik from planet Moebius, was successful in making a special suit, the Omega Care Unit, to stop the disease from progressing, but it forced the victim to stay in the suit. Dr. Kintobor vows to find a permanent solution to the disease somewhere in his future travels across realities.
After the Super Genesis Wave, the illness' history is now virtually identical to its game counterpart.
Sonic X[]
In the anime series Sonic X, like in the games, the "Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome" was the reason for why Maria stayed on the Space Colony ARK, which was incurable at that time. However, it was never mentioned by name and went entirely unmentioned in the English dub of the anime.
Trivia[]
Based on its name, N.I.D.S. is most likely a disease that affects the nervous system (likely the brain) while also weakening the immune system (through the reduction of a person's antibody count), making the patient more susceptible to other diseases, as is evidenced by its name ("neuro" comes from the Greek word neuron, meaning "nerve" and in medical terms, refers to the brain and nervous system; immunodeficiency implies a weak immune system).
NIDS could be considered a version of "Soap Opera Disease," a media trope where a character suffers from a terminal, non-disfiguring (for the purposes of sparing the actor needing extra makeup) disease. Typically, the exact nature of the illness goes unexplained to avoid direct comparisons or taboo discussion; tuberculosis and cancer were popular examples in the past. Its name also strikes similarities to the real-world HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) virus which was heavily prominent between the 1980s to 1990s.
