Item #: SCP-1772

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-1772 is kept in a locked plexiglass box in the High-Value Documents section of the Site-19 Archives. Access may be granted with authorization from the Head Archivist and the lead researcher on SCP-1772.

All individuals given access to SCP-1772 must be quarantined until verified to be free of SCP-1772-1 infection. Any personnel under the effects of SCP-1772-1 must be terminated or given Class C Amnestics before being allowed out of quarantine. Any written or recorded materials suspected to be infected by SCP-1772-1 should be destroyed or purged.

An index of known instances of SCP-1772-1 is kept in Document WWI-1772-B.

Description: SCP-1772 is a copy of the 1983 edition of the ███████-███████ Pocket Spanish-English Dictionary, though it has been discovered to have flaws (termed SCP-1772-1) not present in any printings released by the publisher. Attempts to create reproductions of SCP-1772 through mechanical means have so far failed. Images created from scanning its pages are consistently found to be corrupted, while photographs will result in the images being blurred. Due to this, it has been impossible to compile a comprehensive catalog of deviations from non-anomalous printings.

SCP-1772's primary effect occurs whenever an individual uses 1772 to translate any word previously unknown to them. Upon activation, subjects will become allergic to any word used in the translation present in SCP-1772.

Upon hearing, reading, or writing any word to which they are allergic, affected subjects will immediately exhibit symptoms of anaphylaxis, such as rashes, redness and itching of the eyes, swelling of the face and throat, and difficulty breathing. These reactions are only partially mitigated by standard antihistamines or epinephrin injections, with an efficacy of approximately 30% of normal. Repeated exposures result in escalating intensity of the reactions. Most subjects will require immediate intubation to facilitate breathing after their 16th or 17th exposure.

Usage of Class C Amnestics will effectively remove the allergy, however currently exhibited symptoms will continue until healed normally.

Following Incident-CB-1772-01-PD a secondary effect caused by flaws in the dictionary was identified. Subsequently the flaws were relabeled as SCP-1772-1. Allergic reactions due to these flaws are more intense1 than standard reactions to SCP-1772, and possess the additional property of contagiousness.

Individuals exposed to SCP-1772-1 word pairs from an infected source also become affected. This includes written accounts, recordings, or electronic records made by an affected individual. All attempts to identify an SCP-1772-1 word pair using indirect references without becoming affected have so far failed.

Class C Amnestics have also been successful at removing SCP-1772-1 infections from personnel, however no means have been found to remove the effects of SCP-1772-1 from recorded materials short of destruction of the affected items.

Use of SCP-1772's effects as a potential containment measures for SCP-1516 has been proposed by researchers on both projects. Investigation into the efficacy of such measures, as well as potential side effects, is currently under investigation.

Experiment Logs:

Reader: D-2710, speaks/reads English only

Word Read: "huevo" (Translation: "egg")

Reaction: D-2710 is given a note card with the word "egg" written on it. Upon reading it, she immediately complains of itchy eyes and demonstrates mild swelling of the face. Symptoms abate within 15 minutes.

Reader: D-2717, speaks/reads English only

Word Read: "fresa" (Translation: "strawberry", "drill (in dentistry)")

Reaction: D-2717 displays the expected mild anaphylactic reactions upon reading the words "strawberry", "drill", and "dentistry". After recovering, D-2717 is provided a bowl of strawberries to eat. He does not display any allergic reaction to their consumption.

Reader: D-3718, speaks/reads Spanish only

Word Read: "cacahuete" (Translation: "peanut")

Reaction: D-3718 is given a note card with the word "peanut" written on it, followed by a note card with the word "cacahuete" written on it. He does not display any allergic reaction to either card.

Reader: D-3824, fully Spanish/English bilingual

Word Read: "hola" (Translation: "hello")

Reaction: D-3824 is given a note card with the word "hello" written on it, followed by a note card with the word "hola" written on it. She does not display any allergic reaction to either card.

Reader: D-4020, speaks/reads English only

Word Read: "risa" (Translation: "laughter", "laugh")

Reaction: D-4020 is given a note card with the word "laughter" written on it. She immediately develops a rash over her cheeks.

Addendum: D-4020 engaged in conversation with Guard █████ while being escorted back to her cell. During the conversation, she told a joke which caused Guard █████ to start laughing rapidly. D-4020 immediately began to display symptoms of severe anaphylactic shock. An emergency medical response team was able to stabilize her, and she was returned to her cell within 4 hours. In his debriefing, Guard █████ estimates that he said "ha" 9-10 times before D-4020's reaction became obvious.

Reader: D-4041, speaks/reads English only, specifically chosen due to being named "Hope"

Word Read: "esperanza" (Translation: "hope", "expectation")

Reactions: After reading the translation, D-4041 was asked to state her full name for documentation purposes. Upon saying her first name, she immediately began to suffer from expected anaphylactic reactions. However, she also began to complain to the interviewer regarding these symptoms, during which it was discovered that any usage of pronouns referencing herself exacerbated the allergic reaction. D-4041 was stabilized after being exposed to 15 utterances of her name or related personal pronouns2, and was maintained in the medical wing until her termination date.

Incident CB-1772-01-PD: Due to perceived near-immunity to the effects of SCP-1772, D-3824 was enlisted to do a complete comparison between SCP-1772 and non-anomalous editions. While compiling a listing of deviations, D-3824 was repeating findings via an intercom back to research assistants Hendricks and Jameson that were overseeing the process.

The video of the control room showed the assistants recording D-3824's findings independently and becoming distressed as the effects of SCP-1772-1 became apparent. Ms. Hendricks was able to disable the intercom and trigger an alarm while assistant Jameson retrieved two epi-pens to begin treatment.

The contagious nature of SCP-1772-1 was not fully understood until several researchers and agents reviewing the security recordings and the collected written materials also began showings signs of SCP-1772-1 infection. In total, 6 personnel were hospitalized with no casualties among staff3.

Recordings and written materials collected from the incident were purged from the records to avoid further infection.

Addendum: Efforts to catalog page numbers and word counts to locate mistranslations leading to SCP-1772-1 infections in Document WWI-1772-B are ongoing. There is no current estimation of a completion date due to the difficulty of dealing with constant infection of the cataloger. Further complicating the process is that accuracy cross checks have found the current process to have up to 18% of the entries in Document WWI-1772-B itself be erroneous. The source of these errors is currently undetermined.

Footnotes

1. Lethal symptoms usually appearing between 4 to 8 exposures.

2. Observed allergenic words included "Hope", "I", "me", and "my" when used by D-4041 and "she", "her", and "you" when used by other personnel.

3. D-3824 was found to have suffered a myocardial infarction due to anaphylaxis and was pronounced dead on arrival