Later that evening, Shannon inquires more about the island sickness, "Is it contagious?"

     Lorvin is very familiar with the sickness, "Very much so.  The islanders call it, white man's sickness.  The islanders never get it.  But it has wiped out more than a few of our missions.   They used to call it missionary dysentery because of the initial symptoms, but they've found this variation to be tragically different …though many still refer to it as missionary dysentery."