Starvation Sickness

Created for Sverige by Scarlet Ink!

Description
This 'disease' is actually a very large family of parasites. Once ingested, these parasites (having developed immunities to stomach acid) began to rapidly reproduce. The elder siblings attach to the stomach walls and continue to grow and reproduce, though growth is rather slow. The parents, often numerous, will continue on and turn up in the feces as odd white-opaque lumps, which serve as the earliest symptoms. If the infection is not caught, the tiny creatures continue to reproduce and feed off of nutrients in the stomach.

After about two weeks the creature in question begins to have a more persistent appetite, and swelling becomes noticeable in the abdominal area as the parasites continue to grow and reproduce inside the nutritious region of the stomach. No other symptoms are present. However, after three weeks the creature will only continue to become more and more insatiable, unable to use the nutrients they are taking in to keep them vital and alive. They will become emaciated, save the now grossly swollen stomach where the parasites live, even as they continue to devour more and more food to attempt to sate their appetite. If the disease is not cured within four weeks on a small wolf (up to approx 30 lbs) and six weeks on a larger one, the creature will succumb to starvation and die.

Symptoms
The only way to get the disease is by eating the stomach of an animal that has the parasite, as the parasites will live for at least a few days within a dead animal, continuing to feast on what is left. The only animals that are able to become affected, however, are those with the capability to eat and digest meat. The parasite can only live in a stomach that is adapted to eat meat, whether the creature is obligated to solely or if meat is just a part of the diet. This is due to the particular acids that are needed to properly digest meat protein, which also happen to be the acids that help nourish the parasite in some unknown manner.

This disease is relatively rare, and has started in the Dark Woods, felling many foxes and several bears, which served as a source of the contamination.

Treatment
Healers have a few options for treating this disease. Several doses of Sickleaf or the newly discovered Brackish Frond, diluted to less-lethal proportions, should be administered, along with periodic doses of Violet Death to combat the poisons and flush out some of the nasty critters, which disconnect once the poison hits them. The earlier the treatment begins, the less time it will take to flush out the parasites. Treatment should continue until the scat of the victim no longer contains the white lumps of the dead parasites. After this vital sign has passed, the victim is free of the parasites. If the treatment is stopped too early, the parasites will bounce back and start the whole thing over again.

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