PATHOGEN CARDS

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Ebola Zaire Central Encephalitis HRV-14

EBOLA ZAIRE

Description:
Shares family with Marburg, which is Filoviridae. Marburg does not have any known subtypes, Ebola has three- Zaire, Sudan, and Reston.
Power: highly virulent. Mortality rate is 90%. Biosafety level 4 which requires maximal containment is required in labs.
Offense:
Incubation period is 4-10 days, death usually occurs on day 6-9 after the onset of symptoms.
Transmission through contact with bodily fluids.
Appears with a sudden onset, patient having fever, severe headache, malaise, and myalgia. Victims see to deteriorate during the next 2-3 days experiencing nausea and vomiting and prostration.
Infected organ, including the spleen, lymph nodes, kidneys, and brain, swell and show extreme signs of necrosis. Necrosis in correlated with the large numbers of virions present in the tissues.
Defense:
The mechanisms for recovery are not known and there are no specific treatments. Supportive care is important to prevent shock, cerebral edema, renal failure, platelet and clotting factor depletion, bacterial super infection, hypoxia, and hypotention. There is no vaccine.
Patients being treated must be placed in isolation wards and extreme precautions must be taken by attendants.
The natural reservoir host is not known, so we do not know from where the epidemics arise. However, medical practices of sharing or reusing needles increase the potential for outbreaks to spread at epidemic proportions. Also, cultural practices, like eating animals known to carry the virus (monkeys) and intimate contact with the dead during burial rituals also increase transmission rate once the virus has emerged in an area.
Objective of player:
Your mission is to locate the reservoir. Remember that many lives depend on the success of your mission. Furthermore, researchers have been investigating this matter for years, so use you super power ingenuity.

CENTRAL EUROPEAN ENCEPHALITIS

Description:
family Flavivirus, genus flavivirus. There are 15 related viruses within this genus. There are 2 other geni within family flaviviridae: Pestivirus which doesn't have a human pathogen, and hepatitis C virus.
Power:
this is a trump card, you can choose the level of severity , depending on your game situation. Pathogenesis ranges from an asymptomatic infection to encephalitis resulting in death.
Offense:
This virus is tick borne and there fore transmission occurs where ticks and humans hang out together. Adults that work in agriculture or forestry and also people who participate in recreational activities out doors such as hiking and camping are, are usually affected most frequently. Play this card during warmer months, because incidence is higher when the tics are more active. Although, ticks are around through out the year. Ticks live for more than one breeding cycle of the host, and can therefore be passed along from generation to generation. Hosts range from birds, rodents, cattle, sheep, goats, and other domestic animals.
Human transmission occurs via tick bites or ingesting raw infected milk.
Incubation period is 14 days. Onset is sudden, good for a surprise attack. Initial symptoms include fever, severe headache, photo phobia, nucral rigidity, nausea, and vomiting. Severe cases develop central paralyses , delirium, possible coma, and generalized seizures. Survivors may experience residual paralysis, especially in the upper limb and shoulder muscles/
Defense:
There is a formalin-inactivated vaccine available to combat this encephalitis. Players who dwell in areas endemic to tick borne encephalitis should get this vaccine.
#1 strategy:
AVOID TICK BITES

HRV-14
Description:
HRV14 is one of over 100 rhino viruses
Offense:
Localized to the upper respiratory tract
Incubation period is for 2-3 days and symptoms persist for about 1 week
Symptoms of common cold include profuse nasal discharge and congestion, sneezing, usually headache, mild sore throat, and cough. Can not use the fever offense in most battle situations. For particularly aggressive fights, can use chronic bronchitis symptoms against host.
Victims include pre-school children and associated family members
Transmission by either nasal secretions or aerosols, so using cough and sneeze offensive moves are recommended for successful attack. Another strategy that is quite effective is direct contact with mucus dribble (like from a Kleenexes)
Battle secret: target smokers, because smoking increases the frequency of cough and increases the duration of illness.
Defense:
Not too in luck. Because there are so many serotypes and not cross protection, effective vaccines are very difficult to produce There is no established method for effective prevention or prevention. Only relief is treat symptoms.
Glimmer of Hope:
It is possible that vitamin C and Echinacea enhance host resistance to colds, so DRINK YOUR ORANGE JUICE.

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