Creeping Necrosis

Creeping Necrosis is a severe parasitic infection caused by Skullhead Boring Beetles, insects that are native to the deserts of Akhenaton, Solkaddi, and the Southern Chain. The beetles are carnivorous, making their home in the flesh of any creature they can find by burrowing under their skin and into tissue. As well as being painful, the beetle's necrotic bite causes flesh to rot and not heal correctly, resulting in further infections that are exacerbated by the beetle laying eggs. Left untreated, the parasitic infection spreads quickly and is almost always fatal.

Causes

Skullhead Boring Beetles typically burrow under the sands of the desert, hibernating until they detect the vibrations of a creature from above. They then awake and emerge, oftentimes flying and landing on a creature to await the right moment to strike. Their bite is painful, so they often wait until a creature's heartbeat is lower - usually when they are asleep - before beginning their descent into the creature's flesh. It is not unheard of for the beetles to also target corpses, picking them clean. From that point on, the beetle's life is short-lived; they lay eggs as quickly as they can before expiring, providing nutrition for their young that hatch in around three days time. The parasite does not typically transfer from one creature to another, unless that creature is in very close, sustained proximity to one who is infected, and an adult beetle inside the host exits a wound and moves onto the new host. This is unlikely to happen, however, as the beetles tend to rinse and repeat their life cycle within one host, burrowing deeper and deeper inside the body until there is nowhere else to go.

Symptoms

A carrier of the parasite is likely going to notice the necrotic wound first, especially seeing as it will be a black, numb spot on their skin where the skin has died. If it is not in an immediately noticeable spot, for example on the back, the carrier risks having the parasite progress further into their body, making it more difficult to treat in the long-run. Despite this, there will be a feeling of general discomfort at the site of the wound, with the healthy skin around it becoming itchy and irritated. Infection will quickly set in if left untreated; within the first twenty-four hours, the adult beetle has died inside the wound and laid its eggs shortly before that. This invasion of foreign bacteria causes the wound site to swell and emit a foul-smelling pus within days. Shortly after that, the eggs will have hatched and the parasite will eat its dead parent and then move further into the carrier's body. This can cause intense, prolonged pain considering the number of hatchlings biting into flesh. The resulting infection can cause any number of symptoms, from fever to lightheadedness, and even vomiting and diarrhea. Depending on where the wound is, the parasite will burrow into organs and even bone if allowed to progress, riddling the host with tunnels throughout their body. At this point, the parasite is likely to be fatal to the carrier. Organs begin to function less efficiently, with some failing altogether, and this combined with massive infection generally leads to death. Sometimes the parasite will hit a major artery and cause the carrier to bleed out. Most terrifyingly, if the parasite is allowed to access the brain, it can rapidly eat away at the host's faculties, reducing them to nothing more than a drooling husk before killing them.

Treatment

Treatment normally consists of identifying the wound quickly and cutting or pulling out the beetle (which more often than not is dead by this point) and the eggs it has laid. It is crucial that all of the eggs are removed, otherwise the parasite will merely continue the cycle at a somewhat slower rate. Often, treatment consists of flushing out the wound with water or some kind of alcoholic liquid to make sure that the wound is clear. Usually, the dead skin is cut away as well, otherwise the carrier is likely to suffer with constant infections at the wound site. This leaves scarring, but it is generally considered preferable to the ugly black necrosis. Divine healing magic has little effect on flesh that is already dead and rotting away, so more conventional methods of medicine are generally employed over magic.

Hosts & Carriers

Any living creature can carry the parasite, and it is especially common in desert creatures such as camels, lizards, and wild ass. Animals that are not cared for by intelligent beings are most likely to die from the infection as they cannot remove it themselves.   

Prevention

The people of the southern lands tend to be very much aware of the dangers the Skullhead Boring Beetles pose to them and their livestock. When travelling through the desert, they make sure to check themselves, their clothing, and their animals before going to sleep every night. This is also the reason why, when camping in the desert, they make sure to line the ground of their tent with rugs, to prevent the beetles from emerging and landing on them in the night. 

Epidemiology

Although being mostly contained to the south of the Shattered Isles, people from these desert lands travel, and there is some fear that the beetles will travel with them. There have been cases of infected individuals found further north, but the parasite does not do particularly well in colder climes. Those interested in studying the parasite have found that, in a controlled environment, the beetles dislike burrowing into soil to hibernate and die if the temperature is too low. They may, however, survive temporarily over a period of hot weather and thrive in coastal sands, despite being averse to water. There have been isolated epidemics in desert communities, usually in areas where there is a particularly high concentration of the beetles, but there has never been a real problem with the parasite elsewhere in the world.  

Type

Parasitic

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Uncommon