RHN Virus

The Recombinant Human Natural virus first broke out worldwide in December 2053, and later in 2060 and 2061. By the time the End began, the virus had killed well over a billion people, making it the greatest pandemic in human history. The total numbers are possibly even higher -- it almost certainly continued to kill after the End began.

Symptoms
In the early stages of infection, the RHN virus created flu-like symptoms. For each outbreak, this made it initially difficult to detect, as each time it struck during flu season. Early symptoms included fever, aches, fatigue, and sometimes vomiting. For the young, elderly, or those with suppressed immune systems, even these early symptoms could be enough to kill.

Once the RHN virus progressed beyond the initial stage, it caused neurological effects including shakes and hallucinations, sometimes leading to delusions or even psychotic behavior. Coupled with these effects, some victims began vomiting blood; once this symptom appeared, death was sure to follow. The most extreme and advanced cases could lead to general exsanguination -- the loss of most of the body's blood volume through orifices including the mouth, nose, anus, urinary tract, and sometimes the eyes, always resulting in death.

Outbreaks
Scattered cases of RHN virus were recorded as far back as 2030. In all cases it spread by contact from infected blood and, though cases were severe, the disease was easy to contain.

2053 Outbreak
The 2053 strain (known as RHN-K1) mutated to spread by air as well as contact. With an incubation of less than a day, it was easy to contain, but early symptoms that were flu-like made it difficult to track during the wintry flu season. World health officials took no chances, but the sheer virulence of the disease overwhelmed the medical system. Mortality rate was close to 50%. By most estimates, 25 million people died worldwide.

2060 Outbreak
By the winter of 2060, the world was embroiled in world war and on shaky feet. The second outbreak (strain RHN-Ba) was less virulent than the first; although with a longer incubation period (one to three days) it spread more easily, mortality rates were less than 10%. However, the outbreak came at the worst possible time. With governments weakened weakened, they were unable to halt the pandemic, and it raged for 6 months. 80-300 million people died worldwide.

2061 Outbreak
The third and final outbreak (RHN-X) struck in the winter of 2061. It had an incubation of a week or more, despite health officials being quiet familiar with RHN by now, it evaded notice for days. When symptoms finally flared up, close to 90% of all cases died, and the rest were often permanently disabled. Four weeks later global nuclear war erupted. Ironically, that was what halted the virus -- with an end to global transportation, there was no way for the RHN virus to spread any more. Despite that, during those four weeks it killed at least 800 million people -- and probably higher.

Worldwide Response
In all cases, the RHN outbreaks started mass panics, and in many cities, riots and looting. Health officials and medical experts worked day-and-night to deal with the spread of the disease. The virus mutated rapidly, too fast for medical scientists to come up with an effective treatment. The only sure solution was quarantine and a temporary halt to worldwide air travel, or in some areas, local rapid transit and main roads.

The paralyzing effects these measures had on the world economy are difficult to quantify; certainly each outbreak cost trillions of dollars, but the cost in lives was even higher. Despite, that, the killer RHN virus, worst pandemic in human history, was just the lead-in to the greatest devastation the world had ever seen.