Lichen Fever

Lichen fever is a contagious disease passed by physical contact with the open sores of someone infected by it. Infection is common in the crowded slums of Rime's River Quarter. In about a third of the cases, the sores will heal on their own leaving no more than shallow scarring, but the rest of its victims are left with patches of skin that refuse to completely heal, flaking and scabbing constantly.  The skin patches do not always correlate to the location of the fever's sores, as they are not actually a long term manifestation of the fever itself, but a secondary autoimmine condition caused by the high fever permanently altering the victim's immune response. However, given the sores caused by the fever, most people assume that the affected skin is a long-term infection and treat those with visible patches of it as persistently contagious.  The colloquial name "lichen fever" was coined as a comparison between the skin of the permanently afflicted and the way a tree trunk appears when covered in lichen growth, and because of the misunderstanding of the relationship between the acute and chronic versions, refers to both the disease itself and the autoimmine disorder it tends to cause.

Transmission & Vectors

Lichen fever is contracted when a person's skin comes into contact with the liquid from the sores of someone with a first stage infection. After the first stage, even the damaged skin can no longer pass along the contagion, but people tend to go out of their way to avoid anyone with visible evidences of chronic lichen fever, just in case.

Symptoms

Acute lichen fever (the actual communicable disease) manifests as a high body temperature coupled with open lesions and sores on the skin, especially around the joints.
Chronic lichen fever (the autoimmune condition) manifests as red, irritated patches of skin covered in scaling dead skin that turns grey. The affected areas will often be cracked and bleeding, especially during the coldest winter months.

Treatment

The only known treatment for lichen fever is managing the fever itself. Treating the sores with compresses is risky, as contact with the liquid that is produced can infect the person attempting to give treatment. Victims are often isolated, and left in unheated rooms or sometimes, in severe cases, packed in the snow or ice that is nearly always readily available in Rime.

Prognosis

Approximately one in fifteen victims of acute lichen fever contracts a mortal case, the chances being greater if the victim is under ten years old or over forty. Of the survivors, approximately one-third make a complete recovery, with no long-term effects known. The other two-thirds will experience the disease shifting to its chronic form, leaving the flaking and scabbing that gave it its name.

Affected Groups

Lichen fever is almost five times as likely to be seen in the magically gifted as in full humans, but this is considered to also be because the majority of humans in Rime live in the more affluent districts where there are high standards of sanitation and fewer chances to be exposed to the disease.

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Common