Discrete Fomite Mitigation

Possessing contagious symbiotes and living with the potentially invasive life-forms of Distal Tesseract, the verdials of Petalcap Vale have put a lot of thought into air filtration over recent decades in the interest of maintaining good relations with their geopolitical neighbors who might otherwise be prone to believing the 'creeping lichens' conspiracy. At the same time, the appearance of the very extensive personal protective equipment (PPE) required to fully negate the chance of verdialization on the part of a guest is seen as rude at best and attracts the wrong kind of attention from certain elements looking to prey on foreigners at worst. For this reason, various more discrete means of filtration have been developed to provide some degree of protection without marking out the user as such.   One method of mitigating the risk of veridialization is the dosing of anti-fungal agents as a form of prophylaxis. Extended-release formulations of Lykrex were once the go-to prophylactic treatment, but later studies showed that this drug was nephrotoxic and had too high of a potential for weaponization for the Petalcap Vale Customs Authority to countenance sharing it with the sources that foreign travelers would use. The Ghostleaf Foundation is involved with the development of new systemic drugs that are better tolerated and can be accumulated in the patient's system for prophylactic effect without these issues.   Another method - the most common one by far in the present day - is the use of physical filters disguised in some way or otherwise concealed so as provide protection from Caudal lichen spores without the appearance of doing so. For example, as the Caudal Tesseract is naturally the coldest reach of the Manifold Sky, scarves are fashionable accoutrements for travelers in the region regardless of the season; a scarf with a thinner, finer section in it can function a bit like a dust mask, greatly reducing the number of spores a traveler might inhale on a daily basis. Special dental appliances made with certain alloys can catalyze a reaction between verdial spores and saliva, causing them to be broken down more quickly and, by extension, reducing the potential of living spores from reaching the respiratory tract. Similarly, cotton plugs saturated with an anti-fungal salve can be inserted into the nostrils to provide filtration for air breathed in via this route, though breathing through the mouth still exposes the visitor to spores. In terms of food, cooking is sufficient to inactivate Caudal lichen spores, but the addition of acidic sauces (i.e. hot sauce) can also reduce the viability of spores.