Can Sharks Get Sick?

Question

My summer school holds trivia, and todays was "Which animal is not affected by disease and can't get sick?" The answer ended up being sharks. I find it a little hard to believe that any animal on this planet is completely immune to all diseases.

Answer 1

A popular myth is that sharks are immune to disease and cancer; however, this is untrue. There are both diseases and parasites that affect sharks. The evidence that sharks are at least resistant to cancer and disease is mostly anecdotal and there have been few, if any, scientific or statistical studies that have shown sharks to have heightened immunity to disease.

Answer 2

Do Sharks Get Sick

Answer 3

It is a myth that sharks are disease free. They do succumb to many diseases and parasites. There was a rumor out there that sharks did not get cancer but that has not been proven. Bacteria can cause primary disease in sharks and those in captivity seem most susceptible. Drug therapy is still in it's infancy concerning shark health. Studies do show though, that they recover quickly from injury.

Answer 4

sharks can get sick because I watched a sick shark have a little shark it was the size of a small foot, so sharks do get sick only when they're with child

Answer 5

Well, you are right to have doubts. Sharks do and can get sick, but their immune system is so far superior that they don't get ill very often.

Basically, sharks seem to possess only one class of broad-spectrum serum antibody - similar to that found in human infants. In humans, this broad-spectrum class of antibody is replaced by more specific antibodies as the child matures and is exposed to a greater variety of pathogens.

But sharks retain their non-specific immune response throughout their lives. This generalized immune system is one of the reasons sharks are able to detoxify many potentially harmful compounds quickly without need of prior exposure. Sharks injected with carcinogens, coliform bacteria, and - most recently - exotic fungal toxins at concentrations that would kill most vertebrates outright, have detoxified these pathogens and survived apparently without ill effects.

This is why "shark cartlidge" pills are very popular at health food and vitamin stores. People think it helps boost the auto-immune system in humans, though there is no scientific reseach to support this.

Answer 6

It depends on your definition of "getting sick". If you pumped a shark full of arsenic, I guarantee it would not be feeling well. However, a shark would probably not be affected by anything like influenza or the common cold.

Answer 7

I do not know who came up with this answer, but it is wrong. If sharks would never get sick, then they would never die, would they?

Sharks can get sick, like every other living thing.

And your disbelief is to be commended.

And Mitchell below is way off: shark can get cancer.

Answer 8

poor fish... I hope that you can cure it, It may have ick also you probably want to seperate this fish and move it into a new aquarium so that your other fish will not get infected -ms-

Answer 9

sharks succum to parasites....there is this drum that they eat and it has parasites in them and the parasites gets into the shark...the worm is harmless to humans even if eaten raw but i wouldnt recommend it

Answer 10

They can but not as much as other animals.