Stinging Delirium

The First Great Plague

Transmission & Vectors

The bacteria is transmitted through saliva or spit. It generally takes prolonged or close contact for the bacteria to spread. It transmits more easily through coughing or kissing. Casual contact or breathing the air where a carrier has been is generally safe. Most at risk are people in the same household as a carrier and those who spend time in close physical contact with a carrier or infected individual.

Causes

Bacteria from the back of the nose and throat invades other areas of the body. When bacteria infects the lining of the brain and spinal cord, Stinging Delirium manifests and symptoms rapidly begin to show.

Symptoms

Initial symptoms are fever, headache and stiffness in the neck. As the disease develops nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light, altered mental status, and hallucinations develop. Around one in ten patients manifest a painful stinging rash which causes unbearable stinging pain akin to thousands of hornet stings. When the rash appears, death in inevitable in three to five days.

Treatment

Non-magical treatments include herbal treatments for the symptoms and bleeding the patient to relieve pressure at the base of the neck. Magical healing can reduce the severity of the major symptoms, but is limited in its success at eradicating the disease from a patient.

Prognosis

Stinging Delirium is fatal to approximately one in ten who contract it. If the fever breaks before a rash appears, recovery is likely.

Sequela

Around half of those who contract Stinging Delirium are left with long term disabilities such as loss of limb, deafness, nervous system problems, or brain damage.

Hosts & Carriers

About one in ten beings in Valine are carriers of the bacteria that causes Stinging Delirium.

Prevention

During the global pandemic of the Year of the Purge genuinely blessed amulets seemed to have some success in preventing the spread of the disease, although a roaring trade in fake amulets in many areas worsened the transmission of Stinging Delirium.

Epidemiology

The global pandemic occurred during a particularly hot and dry year, and future smaller outbreaks in such conditions have led to conjecture that the disease spreads more easily through close contact in arid environments.

History

Although sporadic cases of Stinging Delirium were recorded earlier the Year of the Purge, in 212, saw global spread of the disease that killed 4% of the global population and left millions with disabilities. Smaller outbreaks that have since happened have resulted in small populations being eradicated by their neighbors, banishments of infected families and extended quarantines. Though such measures might have been extreme, expanded outbreaks of the disease have been prevented.

Type

Bacterial

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Short-term

Rarity

Extremely Rare