Some diseases for someone to work up

[pmulcahy11b]

I'm not good at working up diseases, but there are two I think would be quite common in T2K, but are underrated and I don't think anyone has done: Cellulitis and Cystic Acne. Both start out as seemingly minor annoyances, but can turn nasty.

Cellulitis is basically an infection of the connective tissue of the skin. It usually starts out as a minor scratch, scrape, or burn, but under dirty conditions can quickly turn into a major, debilitating infection that spreads into the fat cells and can be quite debilitating. Troops undergoing Ranger, Special Forces, and SEAL training are quite familiar with Cellulitis. Here's a link to start you out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulitis

Cystic Acne -- well, it's just a lot of zits, right? No. Cystic Acne is common acne's big, ugly, mean, nasty brother, and while the propensity for Cystic Acne is largely genetic, bad nutrition and dirty conditions definitely exacerbate the condition. Cystic Acne covers the shoulders, chest, back, and of course the face and neck of the person in large, painful pustules and boils, and they hurt and itch, almost constantly. At the very least it's a distraction that may affect a person's alertness; at its worst, it can keep a person from sleeping, which would affect Fatigue Levels in T2K terms. The constant scratching can cause severe skin infections, and it's really hard to treat without the proper medication and cremes. Here's another link to get you started:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_acne

[Targan]

I think chlorinesterase poisoning causes something similar to that second disease you mentioned (cystic acne). Remember what happened to the former Ukrainian president?

[Littlearmies]

Not directly on topic but an interesting article from Time Magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1914655-3,00.html

What caught my eye (apart from the obvious issue of saving people for next to no expense) was the fact that the initial discovery was made at John's Hopkins in the mid 90's so one could work it into a campaign if one so desired.

Or if not then this article brings home the kind of death statistics that are going to be all too common in the T2K world - 219 deaths per 1000 in under fives from diarrhea, mothers who have lost multiple children to this disease and regard another death from it as almost inevitable.