Name: Coccobacillus florentes, a bacterium that causes Heffel's Disease. Description: Coccobacillus florentes is a rod-shaped, facultatively anaerobic, gram-positive, bacillus-resembling species of bacterium known to cause infectious disease in plant-based vertebrates – Florans included. The illness it causes is known as Heffel's Disease– named after Alexander Heffel, the apex microbiologist that discovered it. Coccobacillus florentes closely resembles bacteria belonging to the Bacillus genus. Terran microbiologists were once known to mistake them for the more mundane Bacillus anthracis, or Anthrax bacteria. Despite its resemblance, Coccobacillus florentes has little to no relation with Earth-native bacterium. Behavior: Heffel's disease is not a threat to sentient society. The infection is preventable and treatable, and isn't a match for modern medicine- not by a long shot. In civilized societies, such diseases are easily eradicated, and are never a problem for the floran cities in Civspace. Heffel's disease owes its success not to antibiotic resistance or incurability, but rather the tendency to target isolated floran communities in both the Fringe and certain areas of Civspace. These areas are poor, technologically backwards and always lack hospitals or proper medical equipment. In essence, Heffel's Disease is the 33rd century equivalent of a neglected tropical disease: an illness that only still exists because it strikes in poor areas. The bacterium is capable of surviving in both plant and animal-based organics. However, it only causes adverse effects on plants, primarily in mobile organisms such as Puer-natura resinae (gleap), Drosera piscibus (dragonfly rose), "Treants", photosynthesis-dependant species belonging to the genus Neofly, and, unfortunately, every recorded subspecies of Floran currently on record. Animal-based species, unless modified to produce antibodies against the bacterium, act as passive carriers. They bring the disease around with them, never suffering its effects but still passing the bacterium on through most bodily fluids. This is the bacterium's primary method of spreading from planet to planet; some non-floran travellers and spacers have been known to pass on the disease through worlds for decades. Fortunately, the bacteria is no bioweapon and native flora tend to build up a resistance to the illness over time, preventing mass extinction on every world an infected person visits. Plants connected to life trees are immune to the disease altogether due to the antiseptic properties of healing water. Non-sentient plants infected by Heffel's disease have multiple symptoms and signs of infection, including wilting, bacterial wetwood/ooze, leaf spots, hardened and shriveled yellowish fruit, a yellowish crust coating some or all of the plant's stem/trunk and leaves, and water-soaked lesions in the leaves. Smaller plants such as bushes, grasses and flowers may calcify completely, leaving yellowish spikes jutting from the ground. These spikes are both sharp and highly infectious, and those that pierce their skin with the edges will become infected. Consuming any part of an infected plant will also lead to infection. Sentient/sapient plant-based organisms have even more complicated symptoms. These symptoms manifest in three stages, and are highly unpleasant, making vaccines very attractive to both floran and friends of floran. Stage One begins with a slight irritation of the area where the bacteria entered the body. This can manifest as nausea and light digestive problems if the bacteria entered through the digestive system, or the swelling and redness of a wound if the host's skin was pierced. The victim also suffers from mild insomnia, eye irritation, and in some rare cases may have light flu-like symptoms. The host is not infectious in this stage. Stage one can last from three days to a month, but some patients have been reported to suffer through stage one for up to three months. Stage Two is characterized by sudden irritability and aggression in the infected. Victims become much more likely to lash out at friends, family and strangers alike. In civilized florans and tame animals, this causes little other than confusion and social problems, but in violent tribal florans and wild animals it can lead to violence and the premature death of the victim (or the premature of the victim's enemies, depending on how strong they are). Sufferers also experience joint pain, intense headaches, mild brain damage, and near the end of the stage, vision loss. This is due to the rapid calcification of the optic nerve and certain sections of the brain, onset by the bacteria. At this stage, the bacteria spreads through blood and the flesh of the infected, making cannibal floran tribes especially vulnerable to outbreaks. Corpses remain infectious for up to two weeks after death, and can infect nearby plantlife if disposed of incorrectly. Stage two lasts for a week. No more, no less. Stage Three comes suddenly and without warning. It begins with intense bouts of irrational aggression, in which even the most placid of floran and the tamest of animals are thrown into a bloodthirsty rage- described as "rabies on fucking steroids" by one human researcher. This is accompanied by an irresistible urge to bite and cut the flesh of all nearby organics, especially those of the sufferer's own species. Once the fits of rage begin, the bacteria begins to work very quickly. The pathogen alters the dermal tissue, fur and foliage of the infected, causing small but extremely sharp, calcified spines to grow in immeasurable numbers from the skin of the victim. While these spines cause little bodily damage to those pricked by them, they're incredibly infectious. The skin isn't the only place these spikes manifest. Half an hour after stage three begins, the calcified optic nerves behind the eyes will grow through the eyes and jut out of the skull. Infected often attempt to pierce others with these spikes before they expire. At this point, sufferers are generally incurable and must be cloned if they hope to survive– this is not due to the bacteria, which can still be killed with common antibacterial treatments, but due to the intense brain damage, blood loss and head trauma that results from the spike growth. Stage three sufferers last from an hour to four days before expiring from their injuries. In extremely rare (0.2%) cases, internal organs will begin to calcify in the body, leading to rapid organ failure and death. Pictured above is one of these calcified organs, the diseased remnants of a floran heart. Tamability: its bacteria Where is it found?: Can be found wherever its hosts go- mostly small tribes, villages and towns. Rarity: Heffel's disease is incredibly widespread, and most common in the Fringe. Floran tribes and small non-floran communities with open borders are the most prone to becoming carriers or infected. However, most large cities with advanced medicine often vaccinate their population against the bacterium, making their citizens immune to infection. According to a study conducted by the Interstellar Health Organization in 3276, approximately one out of five professional, non-floran spacers in the Fringe will have contracted Heffel's disease at one point in their life. Additionally, they found that nine out of ten spacefaring fringe inhabitants will see an infected organism at least once in their lifetime, making Coccobacillus florentes one of the most infectious pathogens in the galaxy. Floran travelers are advised to be vaccinated against the disease, and know what the early symptoms look like. Diet/Method of gaining nutrients and energy: From the host, like any bacteria. Products?: Dead people, calcium spikes. Reproduction: Asexual Size: Microscopic. Weight: Not.. not a lot. Lifespan: While a host individual can remain infected indefinitely, the bacterium themselves don't last very long at all, being bacteria and all. Abilities: -Fucking gross. -Clever methods of transmission has allowed it to spread across the stars, despite efforts to eradicate it from the galaxy. -Can infect multiple species and entire forests at a time. -During the first Floran-Hylotl war, Hylotl were known to purposefully infect themselves with Heffel's Disease to deter Floran attackers. If you don't like florans, this is the disease for you. -Attacks those that don't know how to prevent an outbreak and are unable to seek proper medical help. -In cities with sprawling slums that don't give free vaccinations, outbreaks can occasionally occur. Flaws: -Easier to cure than the common cold. (The cure is a series of pills for those in stage one, and a series of pills and IV injections for those in stage two. Those in stage one of the disease recover almost instantaneously. Those in stage two may require surgery to extract small chunks of calcium within the skull, brain and behind the eyes, and must be hospitalized to get their IV injections. They'll be fully recovered within one to two weeks.) -Does nothing to apex, hylotl, avian, humans, and so on. -A vaccine exists for the disease, updated for new strains every ten years. It is cheap (sometimes free) and readily available to the masses. -To civilized Fringegoers and Civspace citizens, the warning signs of the disease and its symptoms are common knowledge thanks to actions taken by their nations' governments. A citydwelling floran, or even just a relatively civilized one, will be fine as long as they aren't exceptionally stupid. Other: N/A
