Amusia Almata

Amusia Almata has become one of the most feared conditions in the world, this is in no small part due to it's ability to continue to affect a person even after death. While it is still possible to live a relatively normal life with the condition, death becomes an eternal torment as it renders a soul unable to "pass beyond".

— excerpt from The Big Almanac of Diseases

Transmission & Vectors

Amusia Almata is transmitted via the bite of the Almata Newt. It has a toxin present in it's saliva which is injected into the bloodstream when it's teeth penetrate through the skin. It spreads through the bloodstream, eventually reaching the brain.

Causes

Not everyone bitten is affected by the toxin, but some people experience an almost allergic reaction and the symptoms begin within a few minutes. The toxin has a particularly nasty effect on the neural pathways of the brain of those affected, specifically targeting those associated with music. It causes irreparable damage to the pathways, permanently changing the patients brain functionality.

Symptoms

The first symptoms set in a few minutes after being bitten, these consist of high fever, intense headache, and seizures. These can last for anywhere between a few minutes to several hours. The patient will normally then fall into a coma for between two to six days. If this does not occur naturally then one will be induced, providing the patient is receiving proper medical care.
Once the patient has woken from the coma, all previous symptoms will be gone and they will be as physically healthy as they were before they were affected by the toxin. (barring any injuries caused by having seizures in a possibly unsafe environment).
The mental symptoms make themselves known over time as the patient tries to go about life as they did before they were bitten. These symptoms can include any or all of the following:

• Inability to produce musical sounds
• Inability to process pitch
• Loss of musical ability
• loss of ability to read music
• Inability to remember or recognise familliar melodies
• Tone deafness
• Loss of ability to comunicate with souls

Treatment

There is currently no known treatment for this condition. This is in part because very little is known about how the toxin actually works, and the technology doesn't exist with which to conduct the necessary research.

Prognosis

The condition is currently irreversible and lifelong. More than that, it lasts beyond death, and that is when the true ramifiications of this condition become evident. A soul who was affected by this condition in life carries echoes of it over into death. The same inability to process and connect with music in life, translates to an inability to recognise one's own sound after death. The consequences of this are that the soul will always play as a wrong note and thus will be unable to be tuned.
The soul will continue to feel the pull of the universal song but will be unable to join it, there isn't even a currently known prodigy who can play one of these souls. They remain stuck here with no chance of moving on, enduring the constant pull of the song.

Sequela

Many of these souls fall into a state of despair and hopelessness, which oftime lead to rage, these souls are far more susceptible to Discordance than others. Once a soul succumbs to discordance they become feral and the soul that was is lost forever. The more time that passes the more likely a soul is to turn feral as the feeling of eternity presses down upon them.

Affected Groups

As the newts are found along waterways and bodies of fresh water, those who ply those habitats for work or pleasure are most susceptible to being bitten. There has yet to be found a differatiating factor between those who have no reaction to the bite and those who succumb to it's toxin, and equally no link between those from each group. There are some medical professionals who have posited that it has something to do with the wiring of the brain, but no one has been able to offer any substantial proof of these theories.

Prevention

The only way to protect yourself from this eternal condition is to avoid being bitten in the first place. Through personal protection improvements, educating the populous as to the danger of these newts, and attempts at large scale extermination, the number of affected has dropped in most places.
Although the attempts at extermination have reduced the number of newts in areas using this method, their tenacity is remarkable: it has been impossible thus far to completely eradicate them. It has however, dramatically reduced the number of people who get affected by this condition.

Cultural Reception

Those who become affected by Amusia Almata are generally looked upon with sympathy in most societies, and by most people. However, there are groups and cultures who hold vastly differing views when it comes to how they treat those affected: some protect them, some fear them, some ostrasize them, and some actively hunt them.

Type

Neurological

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare

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a sudden appearance

The Almata Newt, which causes this terrible condition, turned up shortly after The Needle appeared. Before this time there had been no recorded sightings of one. There is debate as to whether they simply sprang into existence or are an sudden evolution of an already existing species.

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