====== Known Medical Conditions ======

An incomplete list of various medical [[conditions]] generally known to the medical community of the Orion Sphere, with a brief entry on each one. The list has been divided into a number of sections encompassing similar categories of condition.


===== Infections =====

  * **Burning Blight** - A viral disease specific to [[species:Tulaki]], that causes overproduction of energy within cells. Victims feel the urge to move around constantly, and reduced ability to focus.
  * **Bylaxian Flu** - A common illness with a rapid onset caused by an airborne virus. Symptoms are unpleasant, but the disease can be quickly treated with medicaments.
  * **Chitin Rash** - A disease specific to Arthropod species caused by an amoeboid parasite. Causes intense itchiness of the flesh beneath the outer carapace.
  * **Kanashibari** - A disease caused by common microbes found in air recycling systems, this disease produces breathing difficulties and a terrifying sense of impending doom. Kanashibari is specific to [[species:Terran|Terrans]], and can be cured using antibiotic medicaments.
  * **Taxar Protista** - An illness caused by water-dwelling protist bacteria, which infect the brain and feed off the mental energy of Psionic species.
  * **Yuugath Calcificae** - A disease caused by calcium-fixing bacteria that infects plant tissue. Causes mineral deposits to accrete in the limbs, which may form permanent deposits if not treated.

===== Injuries =====

  * **Broken Bones** - Heavy physical damage to a limb can fracture and break bones, putting the affected limb out of commission until repaired surgically.
  * **Burns** - Exposure to high temperatures, explosions or energy weapons fire can result in serious burns, which are debilitatingly painful and open the body up to infection. Surgery to remove the destroyed flesh and applying healing Medicaments can allow burn victims to recover quickly.
  * **Decompression** - Sudden exposure to the vacuum of space or no-atmosphere worlds can result in systemic injuries as body fluids expand and boil, and tissues freeze or rupture. Rapid treatment by administering healing medicaments to the core organs via surgery is essential, otherwise rapid decompression is likely to result in death.
  * **Permanent Limb Damage** - Serious physical injuries may result in permanent damage if left untreated or if treated poorly. This creates a permanent weakness that can worsen if the affected limb is injured again. Repeated damage in the same limb can result in permanent incapacitation of the limb.

===== Radiation Effects =====

  * **Acute Radiation Exposure** - An acute high dose of ionizing radiation can cause massive cell damage, and is likely to result in death unless it is quickly removed. Even when treated, lingering health effects are likely to occur.
  * **Chronic Radiation Exposure** - Lingering radioisotopes in the patient's body after an acute exposure to ionizing radiation cause continuous low-level cell damage and weaken the joints and immune system. Varies in intensity depending on the initial acute radiation dose, and can be slowly treated over many months to reduce the severity of symptoms and clear the lingering radioisotopes from the body.
  * **Exotic Radiation-induced Hypersensitivity** - Exposure to some exotic radiations can cause nerve damage as well as extreme sensitivity of the sensory organs (eyes, hearing, taste etc). Also impedes the body's ability to process toxins. The condition can be treated slowly over several months to remove the lingering effects of the radiation.
  * **Genetic Damage** - Exposure to the unshielded radiation of space can result in genetic damage, which can progress to total shutdown of the body's systems if it is allowed to progress. 

===== Syndromes and Disorders =====

  * **Lorena's Syndrome** - A progressive environmental disease that occurs in Elysians and some Plant species, where polluted air causes damage to the lungs. The disease requires a complex cure, and may progress to an incurable stage where the patient requires a breathing apparatus in all but the most de-industrialised environments.
  * **Narcotic Withdrawal** - The after-effects of many narcotic substances can result in physical dependency and a feeling of fragility. Specific treatments as well as abstaining from the narcotic substance that caused the withdrawal can allow the symptoms to lessen, and may fade altogether with time, but in some cases may linger for many years.
  * **Psionic Dissonance** - Extensive psionic personality alterations can cause an adverse reaction from the subjects deep psyche, causing intense personality fluctuations as the embedded energy unravels.
  * **Psionic Strain** - Use of psionic powers beyond their limits can affect an individual's neural activity, causing mental symptoms such as tiredness and problems wit executive function.
  * **Rae Diar** - "The Black Frost" is a progressive, incurable genetic disease endemic to the [[species:Raegar]]. It manifests as clusters of black boils that grow over time and eventually overwhelm the patient's organs, resulting in a slow death.
  * **Warping Sickness** - Passage through an unstable wormhole can cause systemic damage and compromise the immune system. The illness can be treated with a lengthy and complex surgery to administer Cellular Rebalance to several key sites.

===== Toxin Effects =====

  * **Lethal Paralytic** - Some poisons and toxins can cause total paralysis of muscle tissues, resulting in numbness, slowness, and eventually death as the heart and lungs are paralysed.
  * **Nerve Toxin Exposure** - Nerve toxins, inhaled or absorbed through the skin, migrate towards sensitive neural tissues in the body, causing pain, spasms, and eventually, death. A quick treatment with a molecular anti-toxin can prevent the toxins' lethal effects.
  * **Toxic Lung Damage** - Many toxic substances present in polluted environments can cause damage to the lungs when inhaled, particularly if the toxin is allowed to linger. Victims present with shortness of breath, and difficulty exerting themselves.

{{tag>conditions galactipedia}}