Blood-Pox

The Blood-pox is the name given to an extremely virulent and deadly type of Pox that spread like wildfire through the populations of three continents, killing millions of people in its wake.

Transmission & Vectors

The illness is though to have been originaly spread by sick rats abord ships, where the illness was transmited to humans. Human to human transmission was done by contaminated fluids, such as  saliva or blood. Transmission could happen through the skin, simply by prolonged contact by contaminated fluids.

Symptoms

Blood-pox is a rather potent illness that takes only a few days to render a young healthy person bedridden. Here are the evolution of symptoms in patients:

2-4 days after infection:

• A low grade fever begins
• Muscle and join pain begin
• Vertigo
• Nausea
• Coughing

4-6 days after Infection:

• Red dots appear on the skin, concentrated on the upper back and shoulders
• Fever gets much worse
• Trembling of the hands and legs
• Headache
• Severe nausea

6-10 days after Infection:

• High fever continues
• Mucles spasm of the arms and legs
• Red dots spread to most of the body, including legs, arms torso and groin region
• The pox on the back and shoulders grow into large, red pulsating boils.

10-14 days after Infection:

• Most red dots on the body have grown to large boils by now
• Boils on the back and shoulders begin to burst, leading to severe bleeding and pain
• Blood loss leads to severe dehydration
• Painful cramps throughout the body as mucles spasm reach their peak
• Partial blindness and deafness are possible at this stage
• 60% of infected humans are dead by the 12th day.

14 to 20 days after infection:

• Mucles spasm begin to subside
• The boils on the rest of the body, which have grown smaller, finaly burst.
• More blood loss, thought in less quantities than before.
• Muscle and joint pain remains substaintial
• 80% of infected humans are dead by the 16th day

20 to 30 days after infections:

• The patient is now boils free and any remaining pox vanishes by the 30th day.
• Mucles spasm cease
• muscle and joint pain subsides
• Fever cools down
• Skin begins to heal and scar
• Largely blindness and deafness largely remain for at least a few months.

If they survive

About only 20% of infected humans survive the illness, but those that do usualy make a full recovery in about a year. However, the boils are never able to proprely heal and always leave large circular scars, akin to a shallow cratter. The skin is rough, darker and hairless. The skin is also much less sensitive to touch or extreme temperatures.

Treatment

There is no known effective treatement or cure that is able to save a patient at any stage of the illness. Dreamer's Tea and poppy oil can help sooth the pain when the pox appears and grows, but it will not cure it.

Prognosis

The blood-pox had an estimated 80% mortality rate across the human population and a mortality rate of 60% amongst the mage population. People who were lucky enough to survive the infection are somewhat able to return to a normal life, although their skin remains permanantly scarred, which each boil leaving a crater of rough, hairless skin behind.

Prevention

The only way to completly prevent infection is to avoid contact with someone that is infected as well as with anything they may have interacted with. Some scholars have also noted that records show that people who wore face masks as they helped with the infected and the dead seemed to have a lower change of getting sick themselves.

Cultural Reception

For a long time after the Blood-pox pandemic, many people thought that the survivors who bore the scars were able to infect others. Some were killed, while others were quarantined. Eventualy, people understood that these people weren't infectious anymore, yet generaly continued to ostracize them. However nowdays, if someone is seen baring those same scars, they are more likely to be praised for their strenght and courage for surviving the illness.

Type

Viral

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Rare

History

First Wave: 611-608Bc

The first recorded cases of blood-pox occured in the year 611 Bc, in the Taonese city of Liuben and killed about half of its population in less than a month. Its port was shut down as the rest of the people fled the city. We can assume similar numbers of death in the rest of Nan-Tao. While it was ravaging Nan-Tao, it also spread to southern Osian and Samaria, particulary on the island of Ish'qaloa before subsiding in the winter of 608bc. In all regions, it killed millions.

Second Wave: 602-601 bc

The second outbreak was a bit smaller geographicaly, concentrated in southern Enask as well as in northern and central Samaria. It lasted about 18 months and killed millions of people in both regions. The cities of Kalosanthar, Qhyor and Khadyrah, who all lost at least half of their respective population.

Third Wave: 587-584 bc

After laying dormant for a decade and a half, the pox resurges for a third time. This wave would be by far the deadliest, at it spread to nearly all regions of the known world. It started in the year 587 Bc, in Syrkania(Eastern Enask) and rapidaly spread throughout the continent, thanks to the trade routes of The Essanian Empire., who lost half of its population in a year. It then spread to western and central Arros, but largely spared the north and far-eastern regions. The Arrosian city of Vrahlis was particulary badly hit, loosing about 2/3 of its population in the year 585 Bc. At the same time, it spread to Samaria and later southern Osian, killing millions there. Nan-Tao quickly started blocating any incoming foreign ships, which seems to have prevented the illness from spreading there again. Some estimates put the number of dead for this wave alone as high as 60 million, which is nearly as many as the three other vaves combined.

Fourth Wave: 574-572 Bc

The fourth and final wave occured mainly in western and southern Arros and Eastern Enaskia. The regions of Gysia and Asylia were particulary hard hit. Both the cities of Sargassin and Laenos, both of which had been hit a decade prior by the third wave, lost an additional tens of thousands of inhabitants. Cases were also reported in northern Mahador and Samaria, but remained isolated, killing only a few hundred people before fizzling out. After this, blood-pox would occasionaly resurge around the world, but wouldn't be able to spread like it did in the 7th and 6th centuries bc.

Theorised Origins

Many in the kingdom say to this day that the illness was first brough to Liuben by sailors returning from the mysterious Island of Qel'ndar. These sailors reported that one of them had been attacked by a swarm of giant unknown insects during his stay, and many have suggested that they may be the origins of the illness, but this cannot be confirmed.