The Vermin Vex

The Empire of Denesen has been ravaged many times in the past by outbreaks of the Vermin Vex, a sickness,, said to have been birthed from the bowels of the country's most unkept and unclean places. Whole burrows have been quarantined or burned out in order to prevent the further spread of it. Only recently was a cure discovered by a member of the Empire's pandemic prevention group, the Featless.

Transmission & Vectors

The Vermin Vex is transmitted when a wound from a stray vermin is allowed to fester and is not properly cleaned. Once the sickness takes hold, the infection can be transmitted by any form of physical contact, or exchange of bodily fluids.

Causes

Many blame the empire's inability, or lack of interest in the upkeep of their lower income areas, slums, so forth. Because of this presumed disinterest, these areas are rampant with filth and disease, which attracts vermin to wallow in squalor and puts them in direct contact with the inadequately prepared common folk. Children or adults can be bitten or consume infected meat and become epicenters of the virus.

Symptoms

Infected first begin to suffer from hyper fluctuations in their body heat, unable to control or maintain it at any given time. As they progress to worsening, they will sweat out most of their fluids before their muscle tissue will quickly degrade and atrophy. As they continue to attempt to control their body temperature, while their body literally begins to digest muscle tissue in order to give itself energy, the infected will begin coughing until the force of their coughing causes their teeth to fall out, then the dryness of their throat will result in scrapping of the windpipes. The infected will bleed and cough until the strain on their lungs suffocates them.

Treatment

The Featless have come forward with a cure that involves a syrup developed using Alkae plant sap and goat's milk as the base compound. The syrup is very thick and keeps the windpipes from being so dry that they begin to bleed. While the syrup holds, the infected is then subject to ingesting as much clean fluids as possible while confined to a sauna for at minimum eight hours in order to sweat out the sickness from their system. Once the sickness has passed, the infected must keep further confined to avoid reexposure.

Affected Groups

Poverty stricken or low income families who live in unkept and less maintained locations within the Empire.

Type

Viral

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Common