twilighttiger wrote:<test subject scene suggestion>
As I understand it (though Nuku may clarify otherwise on some details):
The nanite release and activation was done in an uncontrolled manner and with their code incomplete and corrupted. When the nanites first got turned on, a lot of people died from the sudden shock - especially those very old, very young or otherwise of weak health. This is part of why the city feels so deserted, even with the rampant breeding. Almost everyone entering the area of a nanite bubble more slowly don't suffer this shock. I believe nanites outside of a nanite bubble can still perform many of their more basic tasks, including general body maintenance.
Anyone entering the area in and around the city is already infested with nanites. They're everywhere: the smoggy air, the water, the dust... They get into your system and start working away, physically enhancing and healing the person - this is one of the main functions they were designed to do and they do it well. This means that a cancer patient or otherwise terminally ill person would find themselves becoming healed as they enter the area - though I expect very ill people still have a chance of dying from the shock as the nanites start trying to do their work.
The increased lust and enhanced libido are among the side effects of their presence, regardless of whether the person seems outwardly 'infected'. Even the tendency to think that ideas involving sex are good ideas that we see in 'non-infected' people is the result of their activity. This is why the player, uninfected NPCs and the soldiers have got sex on the brains as much as they do and go along so readily with seemingly foolish, risky or downright dangerous activities that involve something sexual. Many of the infections out there make this effect worse, but everyone in the nanite bubble feels this to some degree.
The infections come when the nanites a person carries pick up a new 'status state' from another infection source. These new nanites enter a person's system and tell some (or all) of the nanites there to change over to running on its protocol set. Players losing to a creature result in some of their nanites 'deciding' that the winning creature is 'stronger', and so are swapped to that 'infection' to help 'improve' the player. The reverse of this applies when the player wins a fight - most victory sex does not result in player infection, even if they get cum on or into, because the player has been deemed 'stronger' and so getting infected would not 'improve' the player. Similarly, someone ingesting or otherwise absorbing nanites from an infection source (e.g.: cum puddles, infectious fur, etc.) gets a batch of nanites entering them that direct their current nanites to 'swap orders'. It is to be noted that people react differently to the nanite infection and how it progresses in them (see the variations in NPC infection rates/methods), so most creatures can be imagined to be 'locked' enough in their current infection that a single loss won't change them enough before their existing strain can reassert itself. Repeated infection, especially during a short time span, will overcome this in most cases though.
All of this explanation is a roundabout way of saying that your idea is sound in general and would be a realistic approach for scientists/researchers trying to understand the nanites to take, were it not for the setup of the nanites and of the FS world in general. The nanites were designed to heal, enhance and greatly prolong the lifespan of the rich and powerful elite who were to be their recipients. But with the (buggy) nanites in widespread release, they fulfill their (corrupted) function to anyone and everyone, especially those within a nanite bubble where their abilities and orders are in full effect.