# Question about "influenza"

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674>\
**Category:** The Drawing Board\
**Created:** [January 19, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674 "2015-01-19T11:12:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kitsune9tails](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kitsune9tails/32/1175_2.png) [@kitsune9tails](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kitsune9tails)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/1 "2015-01-19T11:12:13Z")

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I got influenza and started throwing up. Is it the sickness doing that?

The tooltip seems to indicate the correct symptoms (with “fatigue, pain, thirst” as constant factors), so maybe just remove the nauseous effect if it’s there, or maybe it was something else that was causing the vomiting.

Oh, and on that note, how are you even getting influenza (or even the common cold for that matter) in the first place, with no living person to spread it to you? 🙂

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**Author:** ![Valpo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/valpo/32/341_2.png) [@Valpo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Valpo)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/2 "2015-01-19T11:21:12Z")

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I think there was somewhere a discussion on this.  
I am not sure how it went exactly but it was kinda like:

The player has no way of knowing which disease he has so he asumes its the flu.  
Might be better to lable it “unknown low imunity affliction” xD

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**Author:** ![ramesesniblet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@ramesesniblet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/ramesesniblet)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 11:56am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/3 "2015-01-19T11:56:08Z")

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I’ve only had flu once (IRL), and I vomited a whole bunch so I’d say it’s fair enough. Viruses like the common cold and influenza can survive for a really long time outside of a living host, and still be wafting along by the wind from places where there are sick people.

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**Author:** ![Rivet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/rivet/32/11_2.png) [@Rivet](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Rivet)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/4 "2015-01-19T21:17:48Z")

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> [@kitsune9tails](#):
>
> I got influenza and started throwing up. Is it the sickness doing that?

Yes. Vomiting is a common symptom of RL influenza.

> [@kitsune9tails](#):
>
> The tooltip seems to indicate the correct symptoms (with “fatigue, pain, thirst” as constant factors), so maybe just remove the nauseous effect if it’s there, or maybe it was something else that was causing the vomiting.

The vomiting symptom is quite intentional and correct; see above.

> [@kitsune9tails](#):
>
> Oh, and on that note, how are you even getting influenza (or even the common cold for that matter) in the first place, with no living person to spread it to you? 🙂

This is where it gets a bit weird. We’ve got no solid explanation for this; perhaps the virus has mutated to survive for much longer outside the host organism and now spreads primarily via fomites.

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**Author:** ![TheFlame52](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/theflame52/32/247_2.png) [@TheFlame52](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/TheFlame52)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/5 "2015-01-20T13:09:45Z")

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The disease is really something else that resembles the flu to the character, so that is the way it is presented to the player.

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**Author:** ![Flashlight\_Hoarder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Flashlight\_Hoarder](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Flashlight_Hoarder)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/6 "2015-01-20T22:26:53Z")

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Or maybe the Blob is trying to restart the Black Plague…

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**Author:** ![Synthetic](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/synthetic/32/406_2.png) [@Synthetic](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Synthetic)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 11:03pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/7 "2015-01-22T23:03:26Z")

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Maybe zombies can still catch the flu.

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**Author:** ![Belteshazzar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Belteshazzar](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Belteshazzar)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:47pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/question-about-influenza/8674/8 "2015-01-23T19:47:34Z")

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Since they seem to be comprised ‘mostly’ of quasi-human cells (with understandable exceptions like the skeleton) I’d have to guess that they’d likely still carry most of the diseases the human host would have.

Given host specificity of viruses though, the blob itself isn’t likely to be harmed by anything viral… from this dimension anyhow. Bacteria and fungi, sure maybe, but viruses are fairly specific in their requirements.