Cloud Madness

Transmission & Vectors

The bacteria analog lives free floating in the clouds of the upper atmosphere and can be transmitted via exposure any mucous membrane.

Causes

Unknown to the colonists, they themselves had been colonized. The bacteria in question was introduced as a terraforming agent, metabolizing toxic gases and expelling a breathable mix. At some point, the bacteria mutated into an aggressive strain.

Symptoms

The latent stage lasts anywhere between 12 hours to a week. From there, fever quickly incapacitates the afflicted. If the victims survive the fever stage, they awake delusional and incredibly aggressive.

Treatment

Until very recently there was no treatment regardless of infection stage. Now there exists a vaccine that can prevent the initial infection but is more likely to kill someone if there any symptoms are present.

Prevention

The only effective prevention strategy is wearing a full facemask with an airfilter when in open air and decontamination upon return to an safe area.

Epidemiology

Unfortunately for the original colonists, because the upper atmosphere had been terraformed to to be habitable for baseline humans. As a result there was very little in way of sealed environments and thus therefore almost impossible to avoid infection. As the mutant strains spread across the world on rapid jetstreams, the population had almost no defense.

Cultural Reception

As the first images of chaos and death spreading across the habitats of Lyra II, the rest of the system unified to contain the epidemic. In a matter of days the planet was under blockade and quarantine. Over the following weeks, researchers planetside and of world raced to isolate the disease. All the while shuttles were shot down on a near daily basis. Before any progress was made on a cure, the last habitats went dark.

Type

Bacterial

Origin

Alien

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare