Verging on the realm of science fiction, my question is that is there any theore

Question

Verging on the realm of science fiction, my question is that is there any theoretically possible way, biologically/chemically, with which the entire human race can be killed without affecting the rest of the biosphere at all? I am only curious about theoretically possible no matter how unlikely. If we encounter a sufficiently advanced alien civilization bent on our destruction, would it be possible for them to make sure all humans die without harming any other living organism on our planet?

Is there anything biological/chemical which makes us unique or different than other lifeforms on Earth? Something which can be used against us? Or are we just so similar with a bunch of other species that we cannot be wiped out without other lifeforms getting harmed or our destruction cannot be ensured? Is it possible to artificially make humans extinct?

Thanks you.

Explanation / Answer

Infectious diseases is probably the only way I can think of. Viruses for example may have tropisms based on receptors to which they attach. These receptors may be and often are unique to a species, and thus an infection could target humans very specifically. Differences between humans and animals present the weaknesses and resistances we would have to such an infection. As an international species, spread of the disease can be quite rapid. However, our increased intelligence means we could given time, understand the threat and combat it.

If an infectious disease killed rapidly enough that development of a cure or administration of one was not easily possible, the disease itself would be wiped out by quarantine measures (theoretically). For an infection it is not wise to kill the host too quickly as this prevents survival of the infection which is dependent on its host.

Thus we want an infection that is non-pathological at first then rapidly pathological but affected the whole world as a whole. This infection would need to spread to every individual so would have to be incredibly infectious and for no individuals to have any resistance to it and also ideally to kill everyone at roughly the same time or at least quickly enough to prevent us having time to come up with a cure. The only way I can think of that would fulfil all of those conditions is if the infection on it's own was non-pathological but then a novel secondary universal factor made this infection pathological. This factor would have to be in low levels prior to infection but then rapidly escalate to worldwide distribution.

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