Morpheus-X virus

..., 2026, glaciers - Norwegian scientists discover a virus in the permafrost... where it's coming from... At that time, humanity didn't yet understand what they were dealing with, but when the first outbreaks of infection began to sound the alarm, it was too late... Method of transmission: *airborne (infection radius - 10 m);

• contact (through micro-damage, sweat, saliva, blood); *through contaminated water and food (resistant to chlorination and single boiling);
• potentially - through bites of infected people; *Incubation period: 1–2 days (in 30% of cases, several hours).

Symptoms by stage:

• Stage 1 (0–24 hours): acute pain in joints and muscles, temperature 39.0–40.0°C, photophobia, first hallucinations, anxiety and panic. *Stage 2 (24–48 hours): insomnia, auditory and tactile hallucinations, facial muscle spasms, aggression, peeling skin with bleeding cracks.
• Stage 3 (3–7 days): psychosis, panic attacks, constant convulsions, deterioration of vision, physical deformities (lengthening of fingers, curvature of the spine, loss of teeth, darkening of the skin), voice change. *Stage 4 (8–14 days): personality destruction, infected flock, thickening of tendons, cloudy eyes, wheezing, pungent body odor, constant pain.
• Stage 5 (from day 15): “living corpse” state (heart beats 2–3 times per minute, temperature 30.0–32.0°C, metabolism almost stopped), sudden attacks after a long period of dormancy, ugly healing of wounds, mutation of the virus inside the body.

Key Features: *affects the psyche (blocks serotonin and dopamine, provokes the release of glutamate, destroys the hippocampus, activates the amygdala);

• causes physiological changes (integrates into stem cells, changes metabolism, accelerates cell aging); *has no vulnerabilities (mutates every 6-12 hours, has "dormant" copies in DNA, is resistant to radiation and chemicals, and is transmitted through spores);
• lethality: 99.9% of infected die within 3-6 months; 0.1% progress to stage 5 and exist for years