The Virus is lethal to about 40% of all people. The plague strikes all races, genders and nationalities about equally. The virus was extensively studied during the early part of the plague years but no cure or vaccine was found. Research essentially stopped with the collapse of society. Years of sporadic data collection around the world have yielded some unusual pieces of information.
About 10% of all people are apparently immune to the plague. About 1% of the population is not just immune, but they are carriers of the plague. Carriers show no apparent symptoms but are always contagious. The effects of the virus are such that psis are never carriers, and are never immune. An individual who survives the plague is immune forever.
The virus is considered robust and hardy. It does not seem to mutate into a less virulent form over time. The virus also can remain on surfaces and in liquids for a long time before becoming inert. The virus spreads through air, water and bodily fluids and bodily contact. While the disease is not technically sexually transmitted, the intimacy of sex almost always spreads the virus. Pregnancy always spreads the virus from an infected man to the woman.
Normal methods of treating the public water supply will not destroy the virus. Normal sanitizing of dish and silverware will not destroy the virus. The sanitizing temperature must exceed 210 degrees Fahrenheit to destroy the virus from a surface. Note that high altitude cities and towns can not reach this temperature via normal boiling in an open pot.
Day 0 - Exposure
Day 7 to day 10 - Once the virus was identifiable, blood testing via electron microscope can determine if a person is infected. This means that testing is awkward and expensive. Testing is not wide spread, even in the First World.
Day 15 to day 20 - Initial symptoms show up and the person is contagious. Onset of symptoms and contagious status depends upon the person s natural immunity and overall health. Onset range is 15 to 20 days after initial infection.
Day 15 to 30 - Initial symptoms last from 5 to 10 days. The duration of the initial symptoms depends upon the individual s natural immunity and overall health.
Day 20 to 75 - Initial symptoms are no longer present, but the person is still contagious and is pumping out the virus. This stage lasts 30 to 45 days.
Day 50 to 75 - Phase two starts. Normally 5 to 7 days after phase 2 starts the person will collapse.
Day 55 to 80 - Person collapses into an apparent coma. Coma lasts about 5 days. Most people will die after 3 days of entering the coma unless they recieve basic medical treatment including IV feeding and fluids.
Day 55 to 85 - Person either recovers or dies.
The virus has two phases of infection.
The first phase of the infection lasts from 30 to 45 days. The signs and symptoms are an intermittent mild fever, intermittent thirst and hunger, low-grade headache and minor aches and pain over various apparently random parts of the body. The symptoms will last for 5 to 10 days, but the person is contagious for 30 to 45 days, until the onset of phase 2. None of the initial symptoms are of any particular concern medically and are easily confused with influenza. During the initial first couple of waves of infection, many people will visit the hospital during the first few days but be released when their symptoms subside. After the virus is better understood, hospitals will only be able to quarintine people in their homes. Hospitals will be reserved for late second phase patients.
The second phase of the infection last from 7 to 14 days. The signs and symptoms are a high fever, sever and persistent headache and collapse after about 5 days. At the end of the 7 to 14 days second phase the person either dies from system shutdown, or wakes up generally healthy. The virus attacks the brain via the high fever, also lowers the immune system. A number of people will die from side effects brought on by a weakened immune system or from dehydration.
About 11% of all survivors exhibited a very unusual side effect. They exhibited some sort of easily demonstrable psionic power. These were broken down into three categories of psionic powers: spot on the wall, minor and major powers. The percentages were 7%, 3% and 1% for each category. Children who survived the Plague did not exhibit psionic powers until they hit puberty. The descendents were also generally exhibit psionic powers starting at around the onset of puberty.