Guide to Virology

There are many diseases that can affect you in space! The following will come in handy for virologists, traitors, or any unfortunate soul who's come down with a case of brain rot.

Virology is sealed from the rest of the station. You are not on the disposals network, nor do you share the same atmos system

Virology 101

If you are a Virologist for the first time, read this part very carefully!

Tools

The following items will be used during researching:

• Beaker (to mix viruses and store diseases)
• File:Eyedropper.png Dropper (to carefully measure the units)
• Pen (to label your beakers)
• Flu or Rhinovirus Culture Bottle (to start your virus)

Equipment

Should a virus start spreading on the station (or should you work on something nasty and use the monkeys for it), you have to keep your workplace sterile and yourself safe. For this, you'll find these useful:

• Level-3 Bio Hood (against On-Contact viruses)
• Level-3 Bio Suit (against On-Contact viruses)
• Internals (against Airborne viruses)
• Latex Gloves (against On Contact viruses)
• Sterile mask

Isolation

If you, or another crew member are infected, do not spread the infection further. Seek the isolation bay of the medical wing, or head to a room no one will enter but yourself and other infected.

Sterilization

Cleaning blood spills from the ground will prevent contact contamination, make sure blood is cleaned from the floor at all time. Any blood splatter out there could hold a dreaded space infection. Contact a janitor if you see blood on the floor, do not interact with the blood if you suspect possible infection chance. Any object or floor that has infected blood on it can infect anyone who handles or touches it.

Methods of Infection

The following are the various ways a disease can spread, keep this in mind at all times:

• Airborne - The most dangerous and quick spreading, if you are anywhere within the breathing area of the infected crew member, you have a chance to be infected.
• Direct Contact - Requires you to touch, been touched, or be extremely close to the source of the infection. The infection will be spread by the skin and bodily fluids of an infected person, but will not survive long in the air.
• Blood - The infection will be spread by the bodily fluids of the infected person.
• Special - The disease is not normally contagious and the affected crewman has been infected by a non-human vector source. You can work with the infected without risk yourself unless they expose you to the same vector source that infected them.

Curing an Infection

Every infection is vulnerable to one substance (or combination of two). To find it, you can put an infected blood sample in the PanD.E.M.I.C 2200 machine or use a health analyzer on an infected patient. Administering the substance to the patient (may require multiple injections) should cure him. Alternatively, if you have produced a vaccine, a simple injection should cure the patient.

File:Pandm.gifPanD.E.M.I.C 2200

This machine creates vaccines from the blood of people who have been cured.

Use:

1. Take a blood sample with a syringe.
2. Place sample into a beaker or bottle.
3. Load beaker into machine.
4. Select vaccine you wish to have.
5. Take vaccine bottle it produces.

Step-by-Step Guide

If you are a first timer, follow this guide to get you started. You do not have to strictly follow this later on, but it might prove useful if you are new to virology.

• Get three beakers from a medical vending machine and go to the Chemists. Ask for the following:
  • Plasma Dust
  • Sugar
  • Unstable Mutagen
    • Take the pen from the right table of your lab or from your PDA and label them. (Select the pen and click on the beaker.)
• Clear the left table and put away the Hand Labeler on the right. You won't need that.
• Take the Diphenhydramine Bottle and the Plasma Dust Bottle from the Smart Virus Storage and alongside with the Plasma Dust, Sugar and Unstable Mutagen you got from the Chemists, put them in a row.
• Take a beaker and fill it with Virus Food. You find Virus food on the bottom-left, just click on the Virus Food Dispenser with an empty Beaker.
  • Put it on one of the end of the table in a new row. We will organize things by level. Virus Food produces level 1 symptoms.
  • Don't forget to label it.
• Take the Unstable Mutagen Bottle bottle from the Smart Virus Storage and put it below/above the Virus Food. It produces level 2 symptoms.
  • Don't forget to label it.
• Put four empty beakers and finish your row. You will mix these later.
• Take a Rhinovirus Culture Bottle or a Flu Culture Bottle from the Smart Virus Storage.
• Take an empty beaker and the File:Eyedropper.png dropper.
  • Right-click on the dropper to set the transfer amount. When you mix higher level diseases, set it to 5. When you are working on the virus, set it to 1.
• We will make a level 3 disease. Take 5 units of Virus Food and put it into the third, empty beaker in your row. Take 5 units of Unstable Mutagen and add it to the previous beaker. It should give out a bubbling sound. You created Mutagenic Agar.
  • In case you forget how to mix diseases, you can always refer to Advanced Diseases.
  • If the units are not perfectly equal (i.e. you put 4 units and 5 units), it'll play the bubbling sound but the entire beaker becomes useless.
  • Did you forget to label it? Then do it.
• Now we make a level 4 disease. Take 5 units of Mutagenic Agar and put it into the next beaker. Take 5 units of Sugar and mix it with it. This is Sucrose Agar.
• Take a completely new beaker from the box.
• Set the dropper to 1 unit and take 1 unit of Sucrose Agar. Put it into this beaker. Take 1 unit of your chosen virus culture. Mix the two.
• Put them into the PanD.E.M.I.C 2200 machine and open it by clicking on it.
• Look at the symptoms. The first one is always something nasty - Coughing or Sneezing. The second one is either good or bad.
  • If the second symptom is bad, empty the beaker and eject it, then mix another unit of virus culture and Sucrose Agar and repeat it until you get a desired second symptom.
• If the second symptom is finally good, click on the Create virus culture button and name it after the symptoms (use abbreviations).
  • It might be safer to make two, in case you are really out of luck.
  • Put the Flu/Rhinovirus Culture Bottle into the Smart Virus Storage as you probably don't want to mix things up.
• Eject the beaker and take 1 unit of the Diphenhydramine Bottle. It randomly removes one symptom. Mix it with the beaker with the virus and put it back to the machine.
  • Did the good one disappear? Empty the beaker, eject it, then use the virus culture bottle you have just created and keep repeating the previous process until the good one stays.
• Once you are left with one good symptom, create 3 virus bottles. Put one of them into the Smart Virus Storage, then eject the beaker and add another symptom to it. Is it bad? Remove it with the diphenhydramine. Is it good? Create 3 virus bottles, put one into the storage and trash the previous viruses from the table.
  • From there, you are ready to mix your own virus!

Notes

• You can ask the CMO to order you a Virus Crate. It might contain a Toxic Filter, saving you a lot of time.
  • They have the right to deny your request as it contains dangerous diseases too. Should that happen, just let it go.
• A virus can have up to 6 symptoms. Once you reached 4, adding a new symptom either gets added or replaces one randomly.
• If you are working on a helpful virus, it is advised to keep it under an hour or so. It might be too late to distribute it close to the end of the round.
• Refer to the Symptoms Table for the symptoms and their descriptions.
• There is a basis of the so-called Healing Virus. You do not have to strictly follow it, but it usually contains the following symptoms:
  • Anti-Bodies Metabolism (optional)
  • Self-Respiration
  • Toxic Compensation
  • Toxic Filter

Viruses

Infection Listings

Thankfully, humanity has managed to cure and eliminate almost all of the diseases that plagued its infancy. However, the vast reaches of space have been found to harbor new illnesses that can affect the unprepared staff on Nanotrasen research stations.

Disease Name	Vector Name	Description	Spread	Cure
Alien Parasite	Xenomorph	An uncommon infection, caused by alien attacks. A facehugger has implanted an embryo inside of the body of the victim, which will grow until it kills and destroys the body while spawning a larva.	Special	Surgery
Beesease	Apidae Infection	A vicious disease which causes minor toxin damage followed by the host uncontrollably vomiting bees. The created bees are incredibly ill-tempered and will attack anyone they can, including the host.	Contact	Sugar
Beserker	Jagged Crystals	This virus causes the host to shout with anger and punch those around them at random. When curing this disease, it's probably best you hand the affected person the medicine and then get out of punching range.	Not Contagious	Haloperidol
Brainrot	Cryptococcus Cosmosis	An infection that causes mental degradation and will cause the host to collaspe in its later stages.	Contact	Mannitol
Cold	XY-rhinovirus	Still around since the dawn of man, this disease is relativity harmless, causing fatigue and a runny nose. Will progress to the Flu when untreated.	Airborne	Spaceacillin
Cold9	ICE9-rhinovirus	A rare disease that will progressively lower the victim's body temperature in addition to respiratory symptoms such as sneezing and coughing.	Contact	Spaceacillin
Flu	H13N1 Flu Virion	A common illness which causes fatigue, high fever, and muscle aches. Rarely fatal but quickly spread and will cause minor toxin and organ damage. Having an affected patient rest can slow the progress of this virus.	Airborne	Spaceacillin
Food Poisoning	Salmonella	This illness is most commonly contracted by eating poorly prepared food and will cause weakness, stomach aches, and vomiting. This sickness will eventually pass on its own without a cure but can be more quickly fixed with either chicken soup or bed rest.	Not Contagious	Chicken Soup
Fungal Tuberculosis	Fungal Tubercle Bacillus Cosmosis	A rare highly transmittable virulent virus. Few samples exist, rumoured to be carefully grown and cultured by clandestine bio-weapon specialists. Causes fever, vomiting, loss of breath, confusion, weight loss, and fatigue.	Airborne	Spaceacillin & Salbutamol
"GBS"	Gravitokinetic Bipotential SADS-	A virus which has evolved to mimic the deadly GBS virus. Unlike the actual gibbing virus however, this virus causes no damage and will never be fatal to the host.	Contact	Diphenhydramine & Sulfur
GBS	Gravitokinetic Bipotential SADS+	An extremely dangerous illness caused by contagious micro-singularities that will cause the human body to be torn apart from the inside. The initial phase begins in the lungs and mimics flu symptoms.	Contact	Diphenhydramine & Sulfur
Grave Fever	Grave Dust	A unique disease linked to the entities known as vampires. This disease will causes progressively more severe amounts of toxin damage, weakness, and oxygen deprivation as it progresses.	Not Contagious	Spaceacillin
Jungle Fever	Kongey Vibrion M-909	One of the most feared diseases in the galaxy, this is a disease carried by primates. A single bite or scratch is enough to fully infect a human. The result is spontaneous genetic reversion, and the affected individual will also become a monkey.	Special	Death Squad
Magnitis	Fukkos Miracos	An infection of magnetic bacteria that build up in the body. As the disease progresses any metallic items not bolted down near the infected person will be pulled toward them, even objects as large as canisters. Ingested iron will draw the bacteria to it and allow them to be excreted normally.	Airborne	Iron
Non-Contagious GBS	Gibbis	A weaponized version of the GBS virus used by enemies of the corporation in assassination plots. The symptoms are identical to the more naturally occuring GBS virus.	Not Contagious	Cryoxadone
Pierrot's Throat	H0NI<42 Virus	A brain disease that was brought back with the original explorers of Clown Planet that damages the basal ganglia, victims will have an uncontrollable urge to HONK.	Airborne	Bananas
Retrovirus	Unknown	This virus causes minor paralysis and odd sensations in the host during its early stages. Once sufficiently matured, the virus scrambles the hosts genetic data which can lead to horrible mutations. Sufficient amounts of bedrest also hold the potential to cure this disease.	Contact	Mutadone
Rhumba Beat	Unknown	A truely horrifying virus which causes the host to be compelled to rhythmically Rhumba before exploding violently. This virus seems to be a derivative of the feared GBS virus but with more dancing involved.	Contact	Plasma
Robotic Transformation	R2D2 Nanomachines	A rare infection caused by nanomachines in certain foods, effectively kills the infected as their body becomes metallic and their skin sloughs off before turning them into a cyborg.	Spread	Copper
Severe Anxiety	Excess Lepidopticides	A mysterious disease which causes confusion and jitteriness. When fully matured, this virus casues the host to cough up butterflies.	Contact	Ethanol
Spanish Inquisition Flu	1nqu1s1t10n Flu Virion	A rare and deadly form of flu that causes an incredibly high fever. Those infected will die of internal organ burns without treatment or religious absolution.	Airborne	Spaceacillin
Space Kuru	Prions	An incredibly dangerous and often weaponized virus. Prions are found in food containing brains or in specialized bottles of poison used by enemies of Nanotrasen. The virus causes uncontrollable laughter, convulsions and will eventually kill the host.	Not Contagious	Incurable
Xenomorph Transformation	Rip-LEY Alien Microbes	A rare infection caused by xeno-microbes in certain foods, changing the infected's DNA to that of a xenomorph hunter. Symptoms include severe pain and progressive insanity.	Special	Spaceacillin & Glycerol
Wizarditis	Rincewindus Vulgaris	A rare illness, causes spontaneous robe growth, randomly speaking incantations, and finally random teleportation.	Airborne	The Manly Dorf

Viral Biohazards

The following diseases may occur randomly during a shift and will be accompinied by a viral biohazard annoucment from Nanotrasen. It is important to note that the Cold and Flu variants which can occur randomly during a shift at a level 7 biohazard alert are not the same as the Cold and Flu virus samples. A health analyzer will show that these two viruses are instead curable with orange juice which you can acquire from the bar.

Name	Description	Spread	Cure
Flu	Once fully matured this variant of the flu will cause the host to cough, forcing them to drop whatever items they might currently be holding. This form of the flu has no other symtpoms.	Blood	Orange Juice
Cold	Once fully matured this variant of the cold will cause the host to sneeze, rapidly spreading the virus to all other nearby potential hosts. This form of the cold has no other symptoms.	Airborne	Orange Juice
Brainrot	An infection that causes mental degradation and will cause the host to collaspe in its later stages.	Contact	Mannitol
Magnitis	An infection of magnetic bacteria that build up in the body. As the disease progresses any metallic items not bolted down near the infected person will be pulled toward them, even objects as large as canisters. Ingested iron will draw the bacteria to it and allow them to be excreted normally.	Airborne	Iron

Advanced Diseases

You are able to create your own advance disease with different symptoms, which will have buffs, debuffs and bonuses! Refer to the Step-by-Step Guide on how to make them.

Name	Level	Description
Virus Rations	1	Mix Virus Food and Diphenhydramine.
Virus Food	1/2	Obtainable from the Virus Food Dispenser.
Unstable Mutagen	2/3	Created by Chemists.
Mutagenic Agar	3	Mix Virus Food and Unstable Mutagen.
Sucrose Agar	4	Mix Mutagenic Agar and Sugar.
Weakened Virus Plasma	5	Mix Virus Rations and Diphenhydramine.
Virus Plasma	6	Mix Virus food and Plasma Dust.
Diphenhydramine	-	Created by Chemists. Removes one random symptom.
Plasma Dust	-	Created by grinding Solid Plasma (retrieved from the Cargo) by the Chemists.

There's a downside to having too many symptoms; less resistance, less likely to spread, etc. Not only that, but if you add a symptom when you already have three, there's a chance it will overwrite a symptom. This is why it's important to organize your symptoms so that you can try and try again until you get the disease you want. A virus can have up to six symptoms.

Splicing

When you're adding a chemical to a virus, you only need to add a single unit of it to the virus. This means you can use a dropper to add a single unit at a time, instead of using a syringe and wasting 5 to 15 chemicals at a time. Since Plasma Dust and Mutagen are in limited supply, it is a smart move to conserve your chemicals.

Being Organized

A true virologist will organize their symptoms in a single beaker box on a shelf, like a spice rack. This will make it extra easy to store and mix symptoms together to get a fearful disease. Use your Pandemic Machine to identify a blood sample's symptoms. You can go one step further and get a hand-labeller and label your symptoms for easier management. You can also use a biobag to keep your bottles on you.

Symptoms Table

Remember:

• All Viral Samples, by default, have +1 added to all values as a Base Value. As such, for example, a viral sample with Stealth 0 will actually have Stealth 1.
• You can obtain symptom levels 1 and 2 with Virus Food, which you start with a dispenser full of. For symptom levels 3 and 4 you will need to acquire Unstable Mutagen. Levels 5 and 6 requires Plasma Dust.
• Higher Resistance means the virus will be harder to cure and the cure will be a more rare substance.
• Higher overall transmittable level means the virus will generally have a more dangerous method of infection.

Symptom	Stealth	Resistance	Stage speed	Transmittable	Level	Required Chemical	Bonus
Alopecia	-1	- 1	-1	2	4	Unstable Mutagen	Causes rapid hair loss.
Anti-Bodies Metabolism	-1	-1	-1	-4	3	Unstable Mutagen	Cures all diseases (except itself) and creates anti-bodies for them until itself dies.
Choking	-3	-2	-2	-4	3	Unstable Mutagen	Causes spikes of oxygen deprivation. Deals damage based on stage speed and stealth.
Coughing	-1	3	1	2	1	Virus Food	Will force the affected mob to drop small items when coughing!
Confusion	1	-1	-3	0	4	Unstable Mutagen	Makes the affected mob be confused for short periods of time.
Deafness	-1	-2	-1	-3	4	Unstable Mutagen	Causes intermittent loss of hearing.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Restoration (not implemented)	-1	-1	0	-3	5	Plasma Dust	Heals brain damage based on stage speed minus stealth, treats radiation, cleans SE of non-power mutations.
Deoxyribonucleic Acid Saboteur (not implemented)	-2	-3	0	-3	6	Plasma Dust	Cleans the DNA and gives a random disability.
Dizziness	2	-2	-3	-1	4	Unstable Mutagen	Shakes the affected mob's screen for short periods.
Eternal Youth	3	4	4	-4	5	Plasma Dust	Makes you never physically older than young adulthood and prevents death by old age.
Facial Hypertrichosis	-3	-1	-3	-1	4	Unstable Mutagen	Makes you grow a massive beard, regardless of gender.
Fever	0	3	3	2	2	Virus Food	Heats up your body, based on transmittability and stealth.
Hallucinogen	-2	-3	-3	-1	5	Plasma Dust	Makes the affected mob be hallucinated for short periods of time. Available in Virus Crates.
Headache	-1	4	2	0	1	Virus Food	Displays an annoying message! Should be used for buffing your disease.
Hyphema	-1	-4	-4	-3	5	Plasma Dust	Inflicts eye damage over time. Causes blindness if left unchecked.
Itching	0	3	3	1	1	Virus Food	Displays an annoying message! Should be used for buffing your disease.
Longevity	3	4	4	4	3	Unstable Mutagen	After a certain amount of time the disease will cure itself. Will immensely buff your disease.
Necrotizing Fasciitis	-3	-4	0	-4	6	Plasma Dust	Causes brute damage over time, with more brute damage the less the virus' stealth is. Fatal if left untreated.
Ocular Restoration	-1	-3	-2	-4	4	Unstable Mutagen	Body starts to create its own Oculine, healing eye damage.
Revitiligo	-3	-1	-1	-2	4	Unstable Mutagen	Makes the mob gain skin pigmentation.
Self-Respiration	1	-3	-3	-4	6	Plasma Dust	Body starts to create its own Salbutamol, effectively making oxygen unnecessary.
Shivering	0	2	2	2	2	Virus Food	Cools down your body based on stealth and resistance.
Sneezing	-2	3	0	4	1	Virus Food	Forces a spread type of AIRBORNE with extra range!
Spontaneous Combustion	1	-4	-4	-4	6	Plasma Dust	Sets your body on fire periodically, with amount of stacks based on stage speed, minus stealth.
Stimulant	-1	-3	-2	-4	3	Unstable Mutagen	Body starts to create its own Ephedrine, increasing movement speed.
Toxic Compensation	1	-4	-4	-2	4	Unstable Mutagen	Slowly converts brute/fire damage to toxin.
Toxic Filter	1	-4	-4	-4	6	Plasma Dust	Heals toxins in the affected mob's blood stream, based on stage speed. Available in Virus Crates.
Vitiligo	-3	-1	-1	-2	4	Unstable Mutagen	Makes the mob lose skin pigmentation.
Voice Change	-2	-3	-3	-1	6	Plasma Dust	Changes the voice of the affected mob. Causing confusion in communication. Available in Virus Crates.
Vomiting	-2	-1	0	1	3	Unstable Mutagen	Forces the affected mob to vomit! Makes the affected mob lose nutrition and heal toxin damage.
Blood Vomiting	-2	-1	-1	1	4	Unstable Mutagen	Forces the affected mob to vomit blood! Makes the affected mob lose health.
Projectile Vomiting	-2	-1	0	1	4	Unstable Mutagen	Forces the affected mob to vomit with a larger spread! Makes the affected mob lose nutrition and heal toxin damage.
Weakness	-1	-1	-2	-2	3	Unstable Mutagen	Deals stamina damage to the host.
Weight Gain	-3	-3	-2	-2	4	Unstable Mutagen	Increases the weight gain of the mob, forcing it to eventually turn fat.
Weight Loss	-3	-2	-2	-2	3	Unstable Mutagen	Decreases the weight of the mob, forcing it to be skinny.
Weight Even	-3	-2	-2	-2	4	Unstable Mutagen	Causes the weight of the mob to be even, meaning eating isn't required anymore.
Viral Self-Adaptation	3	5	-3	0	3	Unstable Mutagen	Massively buffs the adaptation of viruses, causing it to be stealthier, harder to cure but slower acting.
Viral Evolutionary Acceleration	-2	-3	5	3	3	Unstable Mutagen	Massively buffs the evolutionary cycle of viruses, causing it to be faster acting, better at infecting, but more easily detected and cured.
Sensory destruction	-1	-2	-3	-4	6	Plasma Dust	Destroys mob's senses by shutting down motor skills, creating hallucinations, damaging brain functionality, and depriving the mob of it's taste.
Sensory restoration	-1	-4	-4	-3	5	Plasma Dust	Restores mob's senses by fixing ear damage, purging alcohol from the body, blocking hallucinations, and fixing brain damage.

Understanding Stats

After you're done mixing your disease, stats from the symptoms are added together to make disease stats. Here's what exactly they do:

• Stealth of 1 or highter will hide your disease from MedHUDs. Stealth of 2 or higher will hide your disease from Health Analyzers and Full Body Scanners. Stealth of 3 or higher will hide it from P.A.N.D.E.M.I.C. machine.
• Transmission is determined as follows: (disease's transmission - amount of symptoms). 1 or less is blood, 2-4 is contact, 5 is airbone. However, sneezing will force it to be airbone.
• Chance of advancing a stage per tick is 2% or stage speed, whichever is higher.
• Cure depends on resistance and amount of symptoms: resistance - (amount of symptoms / 2)

1 or less	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11 or more
Sodium Chloride	Sugar	Orange juice	Spaceacilin	Saline-Glucose Solution	Ethanol	Teporone	Diphenhydramine	Lipolicide	Silver	Gold

• Chance of it being cured every tick is 15 - resistance, but always between 10 and 20.
• Transmission affects how much protective gear you must have to protect yourself from it.