Common Cold

Common Cold
Type	Disease
Symptoms	Sneezing
Causes	Being cold, Contact with an infected Survivor, Consuming items contaminated with the cold
Prevention	Avoid low body temperature and contact with infected Survivor
Treatment	Multivitamin Pills, Tetracycline Pills, Immune System

The Common Cold, often referred to as a cold, is the first stage of the Common Cold/Influenza/Pneumonia disease trio.

Causes

Survivors can become spontaneously infected with the cold when their body temperature is low for too long.

• This process is controlled by a "timer" stat. When the survivor's heat comfort level is low (indicated by a blue temperature HUD symbol), the timer decreases. The colder the survivor, the faster it drops. Once the timer hits a critical threshold, the survivor becomes sick. Conversely, when the heat comfort level is neutral (white) or higher, the timer increases, allowing the survivor to endure cold conditions longer without contracting the disease.
• The timer's decrease rate varies randomly, but infections generally occur after 4–15 minutes of continuous cold exposure, depending on how low the heat comfort is. The timer fully resets to its maximum within approximately 10 minutes of maintaining a non-blue temperature.

Other survivors suffering from Common cold, Influenza or Pneumonia can transmit the disease to nearby players through droplets from their Sneezing or Coughing.

A sick survivor will contaminate any food they eat, water they drink, or blood collected from them. These items can then infect other survivors who consume or transfuse them.

Since the common cold can only progress in survivors with low heat comfort, a warm survivor is highly unlikely to become sick through sneezing, coughing, or consuming contaminated food or water. However, an infected IV Blood Bag contains a large enough dose to cause immediate sickness upon transfusion.

Symptoms

Sneezing is the only symptom of the Common Cold. It can spread the infection to other Survivors closer than 3 metres (10 feet). The frequency of sneezing can be reduced by half with the use of Codeine Pills or a Morphine Auto-Injector.

Cold isn't a debilitating disease like Cholera or Wound Infection, but the sneezing survivor can alert other survivors to their position, making this disease relatively risky in high traffic areas.

Progression

The Common Cold requires a survivor to have a low heat comfort (blue temperature icon on the HUD) and weak enough Immune System to progress. Otherwise, the infection will naturally fade within 30 minutes.

An unhindered Cold will advance to the Influenza stage within 12-25 minutes, and from there on to Pneumonia in the following 10-20 minutes. The rate the disease progresses depends on the heat comfort level of the survivor.

A survivor fresly spawned on Sakhal will get a temporary resistance to the Common Cold for 15 minutes.

Prevention

Staying warm as much as possible or maintaining high enough Immune System strength.

• When a heat buff from a fireplace or other heat source wears off, the survivor will gain a 5-minute temporary resistance to Common Cold. So even if the person is freezing cold, they cannot catch the illness while the resistance is active.

Avoiding survivors infected with the Common Cold is recommended because the sneezing can spread the disease. If the adequate distance can't be kept, both parties can wear protective headwear or masks.

• The following clothing will offer a full or partial protection against the infection: Burlap sack (on the head), Motorbike Helmet, Welding Mask, any gasmask, Dust Mask, Balaclava, Ski Mask, Surgical Mask, Mime Mask, OKZK Cap, Winter Coif, Great Helm. Only the gas masks are guaranteed to prevent the transmission when worn by either party in the sneezing event.

Avoiding sharing any partially eaten food or drinks with a sick survivor. This applies to the sick survivor themself after they've recovered from the Cold, because their own items can cause a reinfection when consumed. The contaminated water can be treated with Chlorine Tablets, Chelating Tablets or by boiling. Emptying the water container will also clear out any diseases.

Treatment

The often easiest method to cure the cold, is raising the survivor's heat comfort, i.e. temperature to white or higher for up to 30 minutes.

Tetracycline Pills and Multivitamin Pills will kill off the infection. This may take one or more consecutive pills, which should be taken every time immediately after the previous one has worn off, otherwise the Cold will start advancing again and eventually negate the curing progress. Both pills taken simultaneously will allow a faster and more efficient recovery than when used separately. Staying warm during the treatment will speed up the recovery process.

The survivor can also fight off the Cold through their natural Immune System by raising their Energy, Water, Blood and Health stats high enough. Although the same immunity level can also be achieved by taking Multivitamin Pills, the natural immunity will take two times longer to cure the disease.

When a survivor has recovered from the Cold, they gain a temporary resistance to it for 15 minutes. During the resistance they can't catch the disease again.

Gallery

• 

  Survivor sneezing and spreading the disease.

Trivia

• The Cold is so highly infectious that it has a 100% chance of transmitting to any consumed food or water item. This is possibly the most common reason for recurring infections.