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 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.