Dragon Rot

Nearly 300 years ago reports of some citizens getting sick with a strange disease started popping up. When Isshin first heard of this he sent the best doctor he knew of, Dogan, to investigate. Dogan as well as his young apprentice traveled Nihon to learn what they could of this strange disease. After years of traveling they learned that this disease was not contagious or at least not contagious by traditional means. Family members had been taking care of their sick loved ones and there was not a single case where anyone who came into contact with someone who contracted the disease. Dogan and his young apprentice were at a stand still, they had never seen a disease which didn't seem to be contagious and had such harsh symptoms. Those afflicted could show symptoms ranging from coughing up blood that was usually black in coloration, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath and wheezing, in some cases mental degradation ranging from hallucinations, incoherent speech, madness and violent behavior. In the few cases that they were able to study where the patient died Dogan observed that it had only killed those who were near the end of their life.
Dogan and his apprentince eventually came to the conclusions that they could not treat the disease without more time to properly study and doing so while traveling was difficult. So they went back to Ashina and reported their findings to Isshin. The mysterious disease was soon given the name of Dragon Rot and Dogan and his apprentice began studying to find a cure. For a time Dragon Rot seemed to stop or slow in spreading with no new reported cases for decades, but eventually it returned. At first slowly, but as time went on new cases started being reported more frequently and those who contracted Dragon Rot began to die on average 200 years earlier than they normally would. It is suspected that life spans are continuously being reduced as well.
Due to the nature of this disease and the fact that it did not exist before Isshin Ashina united Nihon there are some that blame him for the disease.

Type

Supernatural