Concerning Tolkien's Elven "Immunity"

[Stripe]

I have been reading through several forums, in which I have read numerous posts regarding Elven sickness. Tolkien contradicts himself in his decision of Elven "Immunity." At first he states that they could not suffer illness at all. They could die only of fading, being slain, poisoned, suffocated, starved, etc.; however, he later changes his mind and says that Elves cannot die from illness, meaning that they indeed could become sick, but were unable to die from their ailments.


I am wondering which one of those is "correct", or most commonly accepted among fans as "canon."


Now, here comes my real question:


Assuming the first statement that Elves cannot become ill in the first place is what the majority of fans accept as gospel, are they immune to all classifications of illness? To clarify, are Elves only immune to disease in which immunity is a possibility, such as colds or flus, seeing as they are caused by viruses? Are they also immune to hereditary illness or internal illness caused by no outside forces?


For example, if Elves are immune to any and all disease caused by viruses, bacteria, or any other microorganism, they cannot get colds, flus, bugs, etc.


But can they also not suffer from cancers or something such as high blood pressure, conditions caused not by bacteria or viruses, but of internal origin?


Based only on the Quenyan language alone, I can assume they have the ability to indeed feel sick, considering they have words for cough, nausea, vomit, sickly, etc. But it can also be argued that these are words to describe other beings, such as humans that they have encountered who have experienced such feelings.


In short, if Elves are immune to disease caused by bacteria, viruses, etc., are they also immune to ailments of internal origin?


Me and my friend could not come to a conclusion.

 

[AgathaCheddarbane]

When you think of Elves as a totally separate race from men, without shared lineage whatsoever, we can think of diseases such as cancer as "human diseases". Meaning it's possible that Tolkien made it to where the mutations that cause cancer don't occur in Elves, nor do carcinogens have effect on them. It's the same with all internal diseases. The genetic makeup of Elves is likely made to where they lack the ability to become sick from the same things as humans, which includes mutations in genes and such.