Dreamer's Disease
Causes
Dreamer's disease is caused by a bacteria inhabiting fish and waterfowl that can transfer between multiple species through the food chain. The bacteria is ordinarily harmless when the species it inhabits is properly cooked through, but can be spread through mishandled food, cross contact contamination to other food items, and improper handwashing when handling food. Areas where raw fish is commonly eaten see the highest rate of infections, and the bacteria can also be spread by the droppings of animals carrying the disease falling into water and being eaten by fish or when in high loads, contaminate an entire water source.
Symptoms
Dreamers disease is a bacterial infection that causes an array of distressing symptoms. The primary symptom of dreamer's disease is that those with it fall into extremely long periods of sleep and are unable to be woken. These sleep periods are atypically long and repetitive, between 6 and 30 days, and paired with other symptoms cannot be attributed to other conditions. Dreamer's also causes a prominent skin rash and spider veins across the body, particularly where the skin is thinnest such as on the hands and feet, shoulder blades, around the eyes, forehead, and along the lower jaw.
Bed sores are an extremely common secondary symptom not directly caused by the infection itself, but from those affected not moving or shifting position. The most dangerous secondary symptoms are dehydration and malnutrition as those infected cannot feed themselves and often fall into another sleep period before they can recover from the previous cycle.
Treatment
The most effective treatment for Dreamer's Disease is found in the saliva and venom of the Blood Eel, as it quickly breaks down the bacteria causing the disease regardless of strain, variant, or resistance to antibiotics with no ill effect on the host. Those infected with Dreamer's will be given a Blood Eel that will feed on their blood, generally from the wrist, inner elbow, or upper arm, envenoming the infected person. Within minutes, the eel's venom and saliva will circulate through the body, breaking down the bacteria en mass and hours after being envenomed, infected persons will awaken and be able to resume normal bodily function such as eating, drinking, and recovery from the disease.
Affected Groups
Dreamer's Disease can affect all races of any age group, being a high risk to anyone but particularly children, the elderly, and those with preexisting health issues affecting diet and nutrition. It is also one of few diseases that did not originate in dragonkin, but can affect them just as severely as a humanoid, aside from the Blood Eel species.
Hosts & Carriers
Freshwater fish and waterfowl often are carriers of the bacteria causing the disease, and can spread it through the food chain. Their droppings when consumed by other animals can infect new creatures, and in a high enough load can cause an infection of the water supply. The disease does not appear to affect most animals negatively outside of dragonkin and mammals.
Prevention
Not only is a Blood Eel's venom used to treat a current infection, it is also often used as a preventative measure against the disease. By being fed on by a Blood Eel somewhat regularly, about 2-4 times a month, a person can have enough of the enzyme's found in the creature's saliva and venom in their body to prevent new infections. Preventing outbreaks can be done by ensuring all fish, waterfowl, and meat from animals feeding on fish and birds is cooked thoroughly with proper procedures to prevent cross contamination from raw meat.
History
In the past, antibiotics were the standard procedure for preventing the disease, however this method fell out of practice due to multiple quickly evolving strains arising at the same time that were also highly resistant to drugs due to their uncontrolled spread and jumping species multiple times. In the past, water sources known to be contaminated with the disease were treated heavily with antibiotics, however this also contributed heavily to the disease becoming extremely resistant to drugs, almost impossible to treat by medication alone.
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