Cackle Fever

Transmission & Vectors

Cackle fever evolves from fungus that sometimes grows on old gnolls. Gnolls are immune to it but any creature that touches it risks being infected. An infected person will feel the disease after a few hours. An infected person can spread the sickness to other people by having a cackle seizure where the person goes into a burst of insane laughter. The sickness is then spread to people close by as the infected person is spreading the fungus through this insane laughter. Many people are lead to believe it is the sound itself that spreads the disease but the laughter is actually a way for the fungus to spread from an infected person to those around.

Symptoms

When a person is infected with Cackle fever they feel strong anxiety come over them. The fungal attacks the mind and will give a person who is put in any situation that causes great stress like entering combat, taking damage, experiencing fear or having a nightmare a big insane seizure of laughter. This laughter will incapacitate a person until the stress goes over. It can take minutes to hours for the seizures to stop. The seizures are also very well known for killing people as a person's mind might shut down from stress and anxiety.

Treatment

The best way of treating Cackle fever is to relieve oneself of any stress for one to two weeks and not be in any contact with other people as they might stress a person out. The symptoms go away slowly but can easily be contracted again if in contact with any other infected person.

Affected Groups

All living humanoids can be affected by this disease only with the exception of gnolls, and strangely enough gnomes. The disease does not care if you are old or young but a person's immune system might help the person resist the fungus from gnolls. The fungus spreading from an infected person, however, is less potent and if a person resists that fungus they seem to be immune towards that persons fungus.

Hosts & Carriers

Gnolls are the natural carries of this disease and might use it against settlements if they manage to harvest it from themself and have the right knowledge about alchemy.

Prevention

Stay away from gnolls.

Epidemiology

The sickness can easily spread through an entire settlement in just a few hours as seizures are common in unwary of the disease. The disease also kills people quickly when entering the seizures meaning a small settlement that is unknown of the disease might collapse within a few hours or days if not treated quickly.

Type

Fungal

Origin

Mutated

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Rare