Acute Fungal Calcification
The Cleric muttered a prayer under her breath as she looked down at her patient. Large white growths of the bonelike fungus covered the young man before her, bursting from the skin, weeping with blood and pus. There was nothing she could do, short of mercy killing. The Cleric drew her blade.
Transmission & Vectors
The Fungus is a common thing in the world, but the calcification does not typically occur without a great disruption to the immune system, or a massive exposure. The spores from victims spreads the disease easily. Any food, water, or blood from the victim spreads the disease.
Causes
Choking Fungus, which grows everywhere, growing over corpses.
Symptoms
First, one notices a stiffness and swelling in the joints, and dizziness. After around a week, a fever begins to develop, and the skin begins to dry out and crack. Three days later, white fungus begins to grow around the cracks, and the cracks begin to weep blood and pus. Over the course of nearly two weeks, the fungus grows, immobilizing the victim, and consuming nutrients in an agonizing process.
Treatment
Clerics are well versed in treating this disease. The first stages, up to the growth of plates, is easy enough, treated with heat and Life Leaf. The final stages cannot be cured, short of Divine Intervention, or pumping massive amounts of Arcane Energy through the body to kill the fungus, though this may lead to Arcane Corruption. In extremely rare cases, the fungus grows in the brain, causing extreme aggression and rage.
Prognosis
It is easily cured at first. If not cured, the prognosis is death.
Sequela
Those who recover from the fungus after it has infected their brain demonstrate a resistance to pain. Those who have been infected with the fungus demonstrate a resistance to all natural diseases.
Affected Groups
Age, sex, and race do not affect the spread of this disease. Cave explorers are more likely to catch the disease.
Hosts & Carriers
Only Dragons are immune to this disease.
Prevention
Covering one's nose and mouth around the spores helps to prevent the spread of the disease, as does avoiding contact with blood and other bodily fluids of the infected.
Preventing initial infection is simple, simply cover the nose and mouth when deep in caves.
Epidemiology
The disease spreads quickly among people in small villages, as the families of the infected try to tend to them. Large cities are well aware of the threat, and are more likely to avoid infection.
The starting stages of an outbreak are often injured people who have been infected being taken back to their home, and spreading the disease from there. Festivals, and any event where people are in close contact, are good places for the disease to spread.
History
The first case of the condition is unknown, but carvings resembling the end stages of the disease have been found carved into ancient ruins.
Cultural Reception
The infected are met with a mixture of fear and pity. Cities that have been lost to the disease are burned down, including any surviviors within the affected area.
Type
Fungal
Origin
Natural
Cycle
Short-term
Rarity
Extremely Rare
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