Shvaro Sickness

Transmission & Vectors

Spreads through water supplies tainted with silver oxide.

Causes

The disease is caused by what is to most, a safe amount of silver in certain water supplies. The volcanic nature of Waihohn has created an abundance of silver. It leeches into the runoff of mountains in Stabherland, which causes the disease. The prominence of silver in a water supply is unheard of in Coulesia but again, this would appear to be safe given the lack of medical research specific to the Kir people.      Kir blood is repellent to silver and will not properly absorb water tainted with it. This means drinking tainted water does not sufficiently hydrate the patient. The silver is repelled from the blood stream, often ending up in skin which causes discolouration and lesions or in organs where it can cause failure and internal bleeding if extreme enough.

Symptoms

Shvaro Sickness has been known to cause loss of darkvision, lesions, fatigue, heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, extreme thirst, aversion to water, and in later stages; blindness. The patient's hair, eyes, skin, teeth, horns, and nails gradually discolour to a sickly blueish-grey. Many cases have led to death, generally due to heart failure, thirst, or lack of oxygen.

Treatment

Many treatments have been tried by the afflicted. The Kir have a tradition of natural and magical healing though its effectiveness on this disease are unverifiable.  Not enough proper medical research has been committed to finding a proper treatment or cure and so people continue to turn to questionable practices such as bloodletting.

Prognosis

If the patient continues to drink tainted water they will surely die. The only hope for betterment is eliminating the consumption of silver entirely but even then, if the damage to vital organs is done, it is often too late.

Sequela

One of the most dangerous aspects of Shvaro Sickness is that it can obliterate one's immune system. While already suffering from organ failure, the white blood-cells are eaten away by the silver and your body is left completely unguarded against other illnesses.

Affected Groups

The Kir people are the only ones who have been afflicted though rumours have been spread of others being infected. The most vulnerable are the sick, youn, and old as expected but a curious group exists who at this point don't even realize they are nearly immune. Seasonal workers who, for many years, have consumed the tainted water only in working months while drinking clean water at home (or vice versa) have unknowingly built up a resistance to the effects of silver in their body.

Prevention

The prevention must start with avoiding tainted water. As of now there is no other way to protect against the disease, and even now, this knowledge is uncommon and unproven.

Epidemiology

Shvaro Sickness outbreaks often follow heavy rainfall. The rain erodes volcanic rock, allowing silver to leech into the runoff and infect its drinkers. Unfortunately this has not been realized due to the delay between the rain and outbreaks and the slow process that Stabherland uses to treat its water.

History

Though some cases have been retroactively diagnosed from years ago, the majority of cases have appeared in the last half a decade. Only after industrialization took hold of Stabherland did the problem become so widespread. The two largest population centres of Kir are Cray and Noe Bac. Both get their water from sources that contain runoff and both runoff sources are being mined more and more these days. The epidemic is only getting worse and pleas to investigate its cause and treatment have grown louder in the last year as Kir numbers dwindle in Stabherland. Not everyone goes as far as to make accusations of intentional poisoning but the argument that the problem would have been solved if it were another people isn't unfounded and it has genocidal implications for those ignoring the sickness.  The link between Shvaro and water still has not been discovered though it has been linked to the industrialization though the link is not the whole picture and the specifics of silver are missing from the theory.

Cultural Reception

The lesions and discolouring make victims of Shvaro Sickness easy to spot and easy to avoid. Unfortunately given the ignorance surrounding the disease and how it spreads, people often cast victims aside in fear of infection. This of course is not how the sickness spreads and only leads to the problem being pushed further from the attention it desperately needs.

Type

Chemical Compound

Origin

Natural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired & Congenital

Rarity

Common