View source for Golden Lung

A pleasant name for a very unpleasant and highly contagious illness.  It
was first observed in [[Southside]] in the month of Augustus, Sun Cycle 364,
initially misdiagnosed as a serious affliction of the lungs that commonly
cropped up at the change of the season.  Symptoms include fever and nausea,
and a cough that becomes progressively worse, bringing up phlegm (and blood
in the later stages).  Untreated, a patient might expect to survive 10 days
before expiring painfully, burning with fever and drowning from the
substance in their lungs.  

The outbreak quickly reached epidemic proportions and the medical
facilities in [[Lithmore City]] were filled beyond capacity as physicians instated
quarantines in an attempt to halt the plague's spread.  Common treatments
were effective but those afflicted still had a roughly 50% chance of
surviving; it was especially hard on the very young, the elderly and those
of naturally weak constitution.  

Near the height of the epidemic, Lithmore witnessed a golden, sparkling fog
(later attributed to the witch Zeita von Zarrova) that seemed to pour out
of the cathedral belltower and spread throughout the city.  Many reported
feeling generally better after inhaling the sweet-scented fog; patients in
the quarantines were given a brief reprieve from the worst of their
symptoms but as the fog dissipated again, so too did their relief.

Eventually a new treatment was developed to combat the illness, consisting
of regular doses of a syrup containing highly concentrated [[Commodities|willowbark]],
elderberry and floleaf, as well as applications of a mustard plaster. 
Chance of survival jumped from 50 to 90 percent.  

Official medical documents refer to the illness as 'golden lung' to
differentiate between it and other afflictions with similar symptoms.  It
is unclear whether the label is in reference to the excess choleric (yellow
bile) and phlegmatic (originating in the lungs) humors, the mustard paste
used in treatment, or the magical incident that temporarily eased the worst
of patients' suffering while medical professionals were still scrambling to
find a cure.  

[[Category:History]]