Sinner's Blood
Transmission & Vectors
The way in which this disease is transmitted has yet to be determined, but so far the most common vector seems to be genetic. In some cases the disease is regressive, till two parents with the regressive disease have a child, in which case the child has the disease in full.
Causes
Given that no known transmission vector exists, some members of the medical community believe the disease to be a deformity in one's blood or a deficiency in the immune system. But given the existence of magic, there are those who agree with the notion of warlocks and mystics that the disease is of a magical bent, and that it's a curse for some wrong wrought by an ancestor.
Symptoms
Symptoms vary wildly from person to person, with the more deadly strains manifesting in the form of red skin and troubled breathing, while more tame strains reveal themselves in the form of bloodshot eyes and a mild case of asthma. More common symptoms include migraines, poor hearing or vision, and even a numbing of the senses, as well as a weak immune system, and some people even have pinkish skin.
Treatment
If it is a curse, then all one can do is pray.
Prognosis
As previously mentioned, it varies from person to person--in fact, some people don't develop symptoms till their mid sixties. But in the more extreme cases, a person can expect death. More often than not, it's newborns that day from the disease, and they die within an hour after birth, while other live until their tenth birthday. But in either case those born with the disease have shorter life spans than those without it.
Affected Groups
So far only humans, and half-elves of human lineage, show signs of the disease, though oddly enough there have been rare cases of dionysians showing symptons, though the disease it doesn't seem to have as big of an impact--most children with more sever forms live up to the age of fifteen, or even twenty.
Epidemiology
As previously stated the disease might not develop, unless the parents of a child have the disease--either as a regressive gene, or if the disease is active.
History
The earliest know case of the disease dates back all the way to the 1500s, patient zero being a Scyllic man named Gustav Laffit, a infamous drunk in his community. Whether he was cursed for his sinful lifestyle, or he inherited the disease is unclear, though it's helped to fuel the notion that it's a curse. The only known outbreak of the disease was in 1855, a year in which a large majority of newborns all over Nosirend were born with symptons of Sinner's Blood. No one know's the cause of this surge, though it is worth noting this happened right on the heels of the Great Barony war, adding even more fuel to the curse theory.
Cultural Reception
Those with the disease are viewed with pity, and even a few churches and temples will house these poor souls in hopes of purifying their bodies with prayer and devotion to the gods; some orders will even house those dying from the disease in a sick ward.
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