Elven Root Rot
Rots are among the most feared diseases of the Elven people, and Root Rot is the most common. While most elves don't have roots, their pores and face slits are susceptible to the rot. Elven Root Rot kills around 37,000 Elves every year world wide.
"In this year alone, I have seen dozens fall victim to the rot, and I have buried them all." ~ an Elven priest, in a letter urging his sister not to visit him in the city
Transmission & Vectors
Root Rot is spread through spores in contaminated water and air. Once a spore latches on to a root, slit, or pore, it infects that elf and begins reproducing. This makes rot highly contagious, as it can quickly and easily pass between elves.
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Symptoms
The earliest symptom of root rot is a pale yellow or white rash in the infected area. Soon after, a fever starts building and headaches and congestion. As the rot spreads, so does the rash. Infected elves soon become pale and began to lose weight. The skin around the rashes also becomes dry and brittle.
Treatment
Root Rot is treatable by removing the spores and fungus from infected pores and skin. This is a costly and painful process which requires a magical healer. For most Elves, the only option is to treat the symptoms and stay as far away from uninfected Elves as possiable until the Rot dies off. This isn't a permanent treatment, however, as Root Rot often grows back where it has not yet been fully removed.
Prognosis
If left untreated, Root Rot will lead to a long and painful death by either suffocation or starvation. Even if treatment is available, the Rot can do serious damage to the infected pores and skin area. This can lead to serious impacts on an individual's photosynthesis, respiration, skin, immune, and muscular-skeletal systems. In many cases where Root Rot infects an Elf with roots, the roots have to be amputated.
Sequela
If one is lucky (or rich) enough to survive Root Rot, there are many after effects they must deal with. It is common for root rot to weaken the immune system, making other illnesses more likely. Root Rot can also leave Elves with breathing and photosynthesizing difficulties. The rashes on the skin always leave horrible scars, which are often painful.
More rarely, the illness has spread to the muscles or even bones of the elf and weakened those.
Affected Groups
Root Rot effects Elves of all varieties and many Valdesan plants. Root Rot does not affect: Fae, Iather, Ariaish, Mortals, most animals, or Creeping Madness. Root Rot is most common among Elves with roots and lower class elves who work near water.
Prevention
In order to prevent the spread of Root Rot, plants known to be infected are often cut down and burned. Additionally, infected Elves are encouraged to isolate themselves until they can seek treatment. Areas of known contamination are clearly marked and quarantined in most places.
Many governments and organizations are investing in projects and programs that make full treatment more widely available. Meanwhile, many less reputable organizations distribute charms, potions, spells, and the like which are supposed to treat or prevent rots.
Epidemiology
Historically, most outbreaks have started with mineral collectors who often work around water a fair distance from major settlements. Then, it would spread from them to everyone they were around. This often brought it to the overcrowded cities, where it would spread to the higher classes and then out along trade routes and invasion paths. Since only the upper class can afford to truly treat the rot, it's nearly impossible to get out of a city once it starts spreading.
History
Elven Root Rot was first reported in a small collecting village in the Coastal Kingdoms, where it decimated nearly the entire population. As the lack of miners began to cause food shortages, those who had investigated the village returned to the capitol and fell ill. The rot had by then begun to spread in the capitol, and trade, diplomacy, and eventually nobles fleeing the mass death spread it to the rest of the Kingdoms. The Coastal Kingdoms nearly collapsed from the illness before Iather healers from the Great Iather Empire developed a treatment. The rot has never really gone away, but comes and goes at times.
The most notable historical resurgence of Rot was during the Kingdoms' Invasion of Zal, where both armies were infected. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians died during the last few years of the Kingdoms' occupation. Many historians believe that this is what gave the Iather backed resistance movements the upper hand, since they were already recruiting non-elves into their armies.
The Temple of Tekshla in Zal admits roughly 12,000 patients with rot every year, with 54% of them achieving full treatment, and another 26% achieving a temporary recovery.
Cultural Reception
Root Rot is highly feared in Valdesa and Zal, as well as other places where Elves are common. In the past, those affected were feared, ostracized, and even killed. However, in the modern day, areas known to have infections are quarantined from other Elves and provided treatment by non-Elven healers.
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