Rotten scales

Rotten scales is a condition that affect Asheks, specially kids. It is not mortal but leaves the infected more prone to skin infections and this can lead to death. It an infection caused by wounds not properly cleaned, and, as its name says, it makes scales rot and shortly after, fall.

Causes

Rotten scales is caused by a bacteria obtained when a wound gets infected and not treated properly.

Prevention

To prevent this illness, one just needs to clean wounds so they do not infect.

Symptoms

• Inflamation where the wound is located (hematoma).
• Scales lose coloration and became soft (different than what happens before shedding).
• Skin turns slightly yellow (white if skin is yellow).
• Scales rot, making the infection even worse.
• Patches of scales will fall off.

Treatment

While easy to prevent, there is not a treatment to this illness and the only thing left to do to the infected is to be extra careful with other illness as even the most inoffensive one can be dangerous because the immunitary system is focused on the Rotten Scales.

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not related
but cute

Prognosis

The illness starts with a cut that gets infected and shows an inflamation typical of an hematoma, even if there was not a hit and was a cut. The hematoma colour shortly passes to be the sick yellowish (or white) tone of the Asheks skin. After some days, the scales near the wound will start to rot and the sick tone will spread and start rotting nearby scales. The rotten scale with fall off naturally with a patch of nearby scales in an attempt to get rid of the illness, but this will only make the new scales to start to rot and repeat the process.
The whole process will always repeat and once it has started there is no treatment. This cannot kill the infected, but it will leave them prone to other infections that might kill them.

Unethical solution...

Many times has been thought and sometimes have been done, but one way to get rid of all the problems that may come with one individual having Rotten scales is to kill the individual and burn their body.

History

First cases of Rotten Scales are almost as old as the Asheks. Both have co-lived since a start and thus, Asheks know what to do to avoid contracting this illness. But there are always exceptions, people who do not know how to clean wounds, or they forgot to, or they do not have materials, etc. And thus, there are always stories to tell.

One of the most known histories are when the Asheks first moved to Emea. The Rotten scales was already known so it was not a new thing, but while settleing in Emea a group of over a 1000 Asheks where attacked by some fauna and most of them got injured. Too much people were injured and thus, not everyone managed to clean their wounds before Rotten scales started appearing. A contagious illness started appearing in the group and because many of them had Rotten scales, they started dying and soon almost all of them where dead. The survivors were not accepted in other groups, left to die alone.

Type

Bacterial

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare

Affected Species

• Asheks

Afreys

Afreys have to be extra cautions of not contracting Rotten scales, especially near their wings. When Rotten scales appears near their wings or the start of their wings, it not only affects the scales of the structure of their wings but also the membrane.
When the membrane is infected, the symptoms go straight to the rotting part, making the infected unable to fly.
If it affects the start of their wing, it may cause the infected to lose the wings' mobility, and it may cause unbearable pain (it is recommended to cut off the wing).

Sroran

When Sroran left their tribe, there were a couple of Asheks infected with Rotten scales and also got infected with a virus that was slowly infecting everyone in the tribe. Sroran only learnt about that when they escaped as their protectors hid the truth from him.

Treatment?

There have been rumours, of an old plant that has obtained the rare power of magic. They say that its leaves can heal Rotten scales. Is it true? Asheks are reluctant to changes and to try new things so they have not tried this rumour (except some individuals) and they shut up the individuals saying that the rumours are truth.

Cultural Reception

Asheks tribes have agreed to all follow a protocol whenever some individual starts showing the Rotten scales:

• Isolate the individual and the individuals who spent more time near them (usually family)
• Check carefully any individual that shows any wound, be it infected or clean. Isolate if someone is found with an infection.
• If the tribe has an Asheks Afreys: add protection and vigilance and medic supplies where the Afreys resides.
• If illness starts spreading even if done the isolation, evacuate Afreys (if not infected), evacuate sane individuals, infected individuals must move so they all live near them (as much far away as possible from sane individuals). After a quarentine of a month, sane individuals may return to the town (where there are not infected). Infected and sane individuals will not cut communications but these must be through Thevars.

At the end of the day, many tribes do not follow the agreeded protocol.