Kamo'o'hali Virus

**The Kamo'o'hali Virus** is the infectious disease that created the Kamo'o'hali infected in *Everything Dies*

## History

The virus was "discovered" in 1849 after then 13 year old Brooke Watson was attacked by a great white shark in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti and lost his right leg below the knee he was rushed to the hospital there. The boy was fine and was sent home after recovery. Another attack happened in 1750 but in Kahului the boy was infected by a then unknown disease and was promptly killed after. A doctor Dr. Kauie Makana studied the disease and dubbed it Kamo'o'hali after the Hawaiian shark God.

## Incidents / Outbreaks

The virus has been around forever and there have been many cited outbreaks or incidents:

* 1750
* 1817
* 1828
* 1830
* 1849
* 1852
* 1853
* 1854
* 1779
* 1878
* 1889
* 1900
* 1910
* 1911
* 1916 (Jersey Shore Shark Attacks)
* 1914
* 1926
* 1931
* 1936
* 1948
* 1950
* 1951
* 1952
* 1953
* 1956
* 1959
* 1967
* 1970
* 1971
* 1972
* 1976
* 1981
* 1982
* 1998
* 2000
* 2001

## Virology

### Main

Kamo'o'hali is a latent virus that spreads via waterborne contagions with a 99.9% infection rate. There are no known symptoms when the virus is dormant, and can only be diagnosed with a blood test. It spreads throughout the blood of the host and concentrates in the central nervous system. The Virus becomes active when the host ceases all living functions or when an active agent of the virus is introduced into the bloodstream. When the host becomes deceased from any method, except extreme head trauma, the host will reanimate as the virus reactivates the brainstem and preserves most of its bodily functions.

A deceased host can reanimate anywhere from two minutes to eight hours after death. Due to the brainstem being the sole part of the brain that is reactivated, it causes the reanimated to regain movement and senses, but are deprived of higher thinking. The reanimated will act on a mindless animal extinct and aggression to feed - and will devour any living or recently deceased beings that are still fresh. They have no sense of self or control, and will kill anything that they discover alive. Their senses remain somewhat intact, but decay overtime. The reanimated can detect behaviors and characteristics that separate the living from the dead. The reanimated can also detect fast movement, light, loud sounds, smell, and physical sensations that alert them to living beings.

Once a deceased host is reanimated, its bodily fluids contain an active agent of the Virus - namely blood, saliva, skin, and viscera. Infection of the active agent is transmissible through biting, scratching, or contaminating an open wound of a healthy individual. If any of these fluids enter the bloodstream of a healthy individual, the active agent will invade the brain like meningitis and cause a cytokine storm. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, resulting in the brain and major organs to shut down, followed by death. Once the active agent spreads, it has a near 100% mortality rate.

The time from infection to death varies depending on the severity, placement, and number of bites - as well as the reanimated age of the undead and possible other conditions, such as blood loss. Ultimately, infection kills a healthy individual within 48 hours after exposure. Ingesting the active agent or exposure to the eyes can cause a serious, but many times treatable, infection. Similarly, contaminating a water source with walker blood only resulted in a cholera outbreak when a community's filters were turned off.

### Variant

There is one variant of the Kamo'o'hali Virus. The virology of the variant is mostly the same. However, the reanimation process is significantly accelerated to less than one minute. While the main Virus was known to have a two minute reanimation time, most people reanimate at least one hour after death. Also, those reanimated with the variant have increased speed, agility, strength, aggression, and intelligence. This particular variant has only been seen in Hawaii, but could potentially be in all of the world.

## Signs and Symptoms

When bitten or scratched by the infected a non infected individual will exhibit the following symptoms before death.

* Dizziness
* Cold and flu-like symptoms
* Pale skin
* Blue tint around the eyes
* Coughing up blood
* Bleeding from eyes, nose, mouth, and bite site
* Rarely necrosis of the bite wound
* Developing shark features
* Seizures and painful writhing
* Organ failure
* Drooling

## Treatment

There is no known cure for the Kamo'o'hali virus .

The only preventive measures one can take if infected is by amputating the site of the bite. If the bite is on the neck or face it cannot be amputated without killing the infected person. If that is the case one can mercy kill the victim or let them turn then kill them.

## Final Stage of Infection

In some cases, the infected can mutate into a hulking humanoid shark creature akin to that of a great white shark. This 'type' of infected is much stronger.

## Other Names

The virus has been called many things by the survivors

* Kuru
* Shark disease
* Shark virus
* Malibu
* Shark God Pathogen
* Shvid - 1