Necrotia ((Neck-row-she-uh))
Scientific Name: N-214V
Transmission & Vectors
Necrotia is not airborne, but can be transferred extremely easily from physical touch or contact with the bodily fluids of an infected individual. The virus can stay alive on non-biological surfaces for up to 2 hours after first contact.
Causes
This very deadly virus was artificially created by the Saurian Empire as a possible means of biological warfare in desperate circumstances before the Alphega Accords were officially signed, all further research and experimentation being cut off after the agreement. Several isotopes were being transferred to a quarantine zone to be disposed of via space ship, when they were attacked by a privateer group affiliated with The Durge. Eventually, isotopes ended up on the black market, where they were subsequently purchased by the terrorist group Broken Sword, who subsequently used them in a biological attack on a Saurian embassy on a Walren world in an attempt to cause confusion and harm relations between the two countries (9/7/1116 ASD). This quickly got out of hand as the virus began to spread rapidly to the civilian population, becoming a pandemic within only a few days. Soon almost every major nation was at least somewhat effected by the artificial virus and serious galactic level efforts had to be made in an attempt to contain it. To this day the virus occasionally flares up and is still a serious concern to the populations of many worlds, but it has mutated to be much slower in the killing of its host while still remaining highly deadly and infectious in the end.
Symptoms
Necrotia reproduces rapidly in infected tissue, causing more and more severe necrosis as it does, as well as spreading to surrounding areas in the body. The infected surfaces begin to turn black and painfully rot away before the victims eyes after around 12 hours from first contact for external infections and quicker (although of course the rotting cannot be seen at first, at least until it spread to external surfaces) for internal infections from ingesting the virus through things such as infected bodily fluids from another afflicted individual. In the early stages of the pandemic, the early strains of the virus would spread across the entire body from an external infection within 14-28 days, ending in the death of the poor blackened and decaying patient. For internal infections death would come much quicker when the virus spread to essential organs, the time from first infection to death depending on the race and accessibility of important organs in the victim, but typically taking around 7-10 days from first exposure. Now, the current variant of the virus (Indigo) takes much longer to kill its host while still remaining eventually lethal, making it possible for even more people to be infected over the course of infection. External Infections for the Indigo variant take their toll over the course of 5-10 years for external infections and around 2-4 years for internal. With Necrotia Indigo it is even possible for a victim to be entirely covered from head to toe in black necrosis and still live for months, though most choose to take their own lives before that point if they cannot get treatment.
Treatment
If caught before symptoms even begin to display on the patient (usually a day after first exposure), infection can be cured by taking large doses of the specially engineered treatment injection created and distributed by the Saurian Empire that flow through the bloodstream and kill any virus isotopes it comes across before they can burrow into the victim's tissue and begin to spread. Once symptoms begin to display however, treatment becomes more complicated. For external infections surgery must be predicted to remove any infected area displaying the characteristic black necrosis, followed by injections. This is possible to do until so much tissue is infected that removal would result in the victim going into shock and dying anyways. For internal infections, infected organs and areas of tissue must be immediately removed before it can spread to more vital areas that cannot be quickly disposed of. Removed organs can be replaced with artificially grown organs of course, but if an organ such as the brain or brain stem is infected it is already too late. Infection of the heart is also generally considered incurable as the virus has begun to infect the patients very blood and a total heart transplant followed by complete blood transfusion and vein replacement as well as that of any other organs that infected blood has contaminated has a very low survival rate and is not often attempted.
Sequela
Age and race do not matter very much for this virus as it infects all equally. The main exceptions are those of the Saurian Prime sub-race of Saurian, who are completely immune to the virus, although they can still be a vector for transmission.
Prevention
Any exposed skin that comes into contact with an infected individual or surface that such a person has recently touched is likely to be a receptacle for burrowing virus isotopes. Those on afflicted worlds are strongly encouraged to cover and exposed skin to avoid contact with the virus. This is also an effective method of preventing internal infection via droplets of infected saliva or other bodily fluids flying through the air or otherwise, though breathing filters capable of stopping virus particles are also encouraged to make infection even less likely.
Epidemiology
Necrotia can spread like wildfire through populations due both to infected individuals not knowing they are comprised for some time after initial exposure and the ease with which one can be infected by simply touching something an object that another infected person has come into physical contact with. Because of this, contaminated planets often have quarantine camps where infected individuals are required to reside for the duration of their sickness while efforts are made by specialist medical personnel to cure them once the spread is under control.
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