What Kate Does: Get Down with "the Sickness"

I had hoped to write a full-blown post discussing "the Sickness"--what we already knew and what we learned in the latest episode. Anyhow, it's not going to happen, so instead I'll jot a few ideas/thoughts here and look for some insight in the comments.

Briefly what we know:

-We first heard about the Sickness from Danielle Rousseau way back in Season 1 when Sayid first finds here in 1.09 "Solitary." We find that Rousseau was essentially telling the truth, when we are shown her story in 5.05 "This Place is Death." Rousseau's team is attacked by the Smoke Monster, Montand loses his arm and is dragged down under the Temple walls, and the rest of the team (minus Rousseau) goes under to retrieve him. Then, about one month later, we see that Rousseau has killed the rest of her team. Her husband, Robert, begs for his life under gunpoint; but when Rousseau appears to relent, he quickly raises his own gun and tries to murder his pregnant wife. The gun lacks a firing pin though, and Rousseau shoots and kills him. While we still don't know a great deal about the effects of the sickness, Robert's actions at least give us some clue that the sickness is real: by all appearances, Robert did seem "changed" or "infected" and, for whatever reason, he was motivated to try to kill his uninfected, pregnant wife.

-Dharma and the Others also perform actions which might have been intended to ward off the sickness. Recall that Desmond consistently took a vaccination while living in the Swan hatch. It is possible that this vaccination is tied to the sickness, although this should be called into question considering the fact that Dharma may have simply been using the "Quarantine" threat and vaccinations as a means of scaring the button-pressing teams to prevent their leaving the hatch. Additionally, recall that Ethan was intent on giving Claire shots (2.15 "Maternity Leave") to prevent her baby from getting sick. However, it is most likely that these shots were related to Juliet's attempt to stop pregnant women from dying on the Island and not related to the sickness.

Claire and Sayid -- We've been told (and will assume that) both Claire and Sayid have been infected. If we compare their cases, I think we can now assume that Claire, like Sayid, died and then was reanimated ("claimed"). Before I examine her case, let's quickly run through what I believe happened to Sayid:

-Sayid was shot and mortally wounded. Jacob, as a ghost, told Hurley to take him to the Temple as a last-ditch effort to save his life. Within the Temple is a life-saving spring, which I think we can safely assume was the means used by Richard to save young Ben's life in 5.12 "Dead is Dead." However, the springwater was no longer clear (likely implying a relation between the springwater's power and Jacob) and the water failed to save Sayid (note that the water failed also to heal Dogen's hand when he tested it). Sayid died and was only reanimated by being "claimed". In "What Kate Does," we find that the Others determined that Sayid was infected with the sickness, or as the Others called it, he had been "claimed." Over time, everything that Sayid once was will be changed.

-Claire, I believe, also died and was also "claimed." Recall that in 4.09 "The Shape of Things to Come," Widmore's mercenaries explode Claire's house. Sawyer apparently saves her from the wreckage, picking her up as she says, "Charlie?" in a daze. After the attack, Sawyer, Claire (with Aaron), and Miles head back to the beach. Miles, who we know can communicate with the dead, takes an unusual amount of interest in Claire, causing Sawyer to angrily put a restraining order on Miles. That night, Christian Shepherd (Claire and Jack's father) appears to Claire and leads her away causing her to desert Aaron (4.10 "Something Nice Back Home"). Finally, in 4.11 "Cabin Fever," Locke finds Claire with Christian Shepherd in Jacob's cabin. She acts in a very strange manner, showing no concern about having left Aaron out in the jungle, which is perhaps a sign of the initial changes caused by the sickness.

Now, in "LA X" there is a subtle, but important, scene in which Miles gives the recently dead body of Sayid a strange look. This look seemed to suggest that something was unusual with Sayid--that his body was not like those dead bodies that Miles normally encounters. Perhaps those that are "claimed" do not "talk" with Miles like a normal dead person does? Whatever it is exactly, the look was very similar to the way that Miles took interest in (I argue, the recently dead) Claire. So I believe that Claire underwent the same process as Sayid: she died in the attack and was quickly reanimated ("claimed").

Last thoughts:

1) Why didn't the Others just kill Sayid themselves once they found he was "claimed"? I think it's because Sayid was already dead, and so perhaps the poison pill, taken willingly, is the only means of "killing" a "claimed" person that has previously died. Contrast this with Rousseau's sick husband, who she was able to simply kill with a gun. My thought is that perhaps there are two ways to get the sickness: a) while alive, like Rousseau's team, and b) by being "claimed" when dead like Sayid and Claire. I assume we'll find out more soon.

2) Who is doing the "claiming?" The Others don't specially say, but I think it's fairly obvious that it is the Man in Black (fake Locke). Rousseau's team contracted the sickness after encountering the Smoke Monster and following it under the Temple. Christian Shepherd came to take Claire, and we've long suspected that he might have a connection to the MIB. Finally, it would make sense that the Others, followers of Jacob, would fear those "claimed" by Jacob's enemy. Also kind of cool, note that Jacob's symbol--the statue, Tawaret--is the goddess of birth, while the Smoke Monster's symbol Anubis is the god of the underworld. It would make sense that Jacob would claim the living, while MIB would claim the dead.