Rotspur

Description

Rotspur is a parasitic disease that spreads primarily through tainted water, but also through direct contact between people, and through contact with the dead. The so-called culprits, known as "rotworms," burrow into the skin through the tiniest of pores, and then rapidly reproduce within the body, eating any organic matter and causing the appearance of rot and decay (hence the name). Rotworms can grow to be quite large after their feast, though this typically precipitates their death. When they die, they explode into many pustules, which are the rotworm's eggs, from which hatch hundreds of new rotworms.
For this reason, the disease is highly contagious. Dead bodies are typically burned in the center of outbreaks, but, luckily, the worms have difficulty surviving in the cold, and outbreaks typically subside in the winter. In especially severe outbreaks, the winter is not enough, and enough worms can survive within living bodies to continue the outbreak even in the depths of the cold. Furthermore, there are rumors that some rotworm strains have evolved, so as to hibernate within the body during winter, causing symptoms to show the following year, and for the outbreak to spread once more.

Type

Parasitic