After the ep last night, my hubby says to me "I think Sylar has the virus", which makes perfect sense for his condition.

He can't use his powers, which is a sign of having contracted the virus. Candice was presumably still working for the Company, which has now recruited Mohinder to cure the virus, and at one point Candice tells Sylar that the people she works for will be able to make him better.

If the virus is a contagion, perhaps it takes a while to incubate? The Haitian had it, and we know he at least was near Sylar around the time of the Homecoming, whereas the Heroes have done their damndest to keep him away from Molly.

I don't know much about how this virus spreads, but it's just a thought.

Yea I would most defitenely say that Sylar got the virus.
He cant use his powers so he must be...
I have no other explaination atm but my opinion goes to the virus

never thought of it that way actually..

completely forgot about the virus

He probably has the virus, but I wonder where and when he got it. Maybe the company has something to do with it.

Forgot about the virus too. He's going to have to be real nice to Mohinder.

makes you question the companies intentions...if sylar did infact contract the virus its at the same time mohinder is seriously studying it and beginning to understand it.

They probably still have the same intentions. When they captured Sylar in the first season they wanted to study him, he was seriously drugged but alive. They obviously got a little more careful than last time by putting him in the jungle (if that's wasn't an illusion). Studying a dead Sylar isn't going to help much, they have to find a cure before the virus kills him. Makes sense they got Mohinder to do that.

I hope the company man who's watching Mohinder is going to die soon, he's boring. He has a number of less attractive qualities, those people always die, I hope this one will soon.

he wont die for a few episodes because they havent told his story yet, which is important to someone else (Another hero)....

Yeah, I immediately thought of the virus. Which would be another explaination for how sickly he was looking, even though he just went through surgery.
Also might have been another reason they showed him way out in the middle of BFE. Makes it a little more desperate to have someone find him, or him to get out of there.
I can't believe they would just kill him like that out there, though... he's just too cool of a character.

I have to unpack my season 1 DVD and recheck that 5 years later episode... but didn't they eventually create a "cure" for the powers that killed them? Maybe the Company has this virus as a way of removing the people they find, and don't want to use for their causes.
This is all so XMen sometimes I get confused... hehe...

That is a really interesting idea, I was confused what all the commotion was about with Sylar needing to be "in recovery" or however Candace put it, but that makes sense. I could have sworn "the virus" was inherited, however, considering that Mohinder's sister Shanti had it when she was only 5. It would make an interesting scene if Mohinder is the only one that can save Sylar if he does indeed have "The virus."

But in retrospect, I had always assumed that the ability to actually cut the head open and retrive the brain/ability was Sylar's power. That whole, "I can see what makes things tick, I can see how things work," ect. So if that is his "power" than we can't say Sylar has lost his powers due to "the virus," that is if he does have "the virus."

Maybe the virus, in Shanti's case was inherited, but then the Company is somehow using the virus (& the cure) against some Heroes? Sylar, being too powerful, was probably deliberately infected with the virus by the Company, so that they could study him or get something from him... Nikki wants to be cured, & the Company wants something from her too... Hmm... *confused*

Nikki wants to be cured so the Company says they can (at first they couldnt, but since Mohinder works for them now, they can cure Nikki).
The thing is...

Where the **** did this virus originated from and killing all those heroes ?!?!?!?!

Thats at least 1 of the 3 big storylines this season.
The 2nd would be ofcourse WHO is killing the older generation of Heroes ???!?!

And the 3rd is unknown to me atm but we'll soon find out.

Nice theory, that actually makes a heck of a lot of sense to me

It's not impossible that along the line somewhere the Company got the virus from Shanti... we don't know the entire story, I'm sure. And now they are just using it for their own ends. We don't even know if you can catch it from another person, since then everyone in contact with Niki, Molly and the Hatian at least would have it; a lot of people!
Maybe someone intentionally gives it to certain people... people they deem too powerful, or of no more use? Molly, Niki and the Hatian have all been in contact with Company operatives, and Sylar has as well.

And why wouldn't the virus cancel out Sylar's "intelligence" powers? He would lose knowledge of how to use past powers, and how to aquire new ones.

Well I thought it was explained that the virus caused people to not be able to use their powers, like when Bob said that the vaccine must have worked since the Haitian wiped Mohinder's memory and that Molly couldn't track anyone when she was sick

I think the "I know how things work / I know what makes things tick.." is not purely ability alone..
You also need to have a basic understanding and from that point you're able to know the most advanced stuff as almost all things in the universe requires a basic standing then from that point on it goes advanced.
Sylar had the basic and from that point he was able to go further and knew how the abilities worked.
He couldnt just always have the basic, he must have learned like normal people how things work but his ability of how things work as to explain it simple magnified his intelligence.

So Sylar was supersmart with his ability of how things work etc.
Without his ability he is still smart but not super smart if you get what I mean
This is just my apprehension of how things work with his ability but there hasnt been any fact of what or how his basic ability worked. So you cant say that much about Sylar's original ability.

Shanti died from the virus yes..
But what you're saying that the people at the Company got infected... but that means the people with abilities wouldve died in at least a few years...
And Shanti died I dont know 20+ years ago?
So it couldnt have come from the Company (although there might be the possibility no one knows).

And to suggest my thoughts:
Bob said the virus is spreading... If it were to come from the Company..
Shouldnt they like know a pattern that wherever they go or met new people with abilities affected those people aswell ?

So its not the Company to clarify in my opinion (I could be wrong).

I still think that it may be the Company, they could have found out about Shanti and then contained the virus in some way. It would make sense especially since it was most likely the Company who were doing surgeries on Sylar, they could have easily contaminated him