| SUBMITTED: Stardate 96700.3 | FILED BY: LCDR T. Fozka | SECURITY: Level 2 - Confidential |
LOCATION: Quarentine Lab F, Deep Space 13.
MISSION: Analysis of the cordyceps fungus for potential weaponisation and countermeasures.
OUTCOME: Fungus partially replicated in the lab. Short term countermeasures found.
KEY PERSONNEL:
CAPT J. Ceefax
CMDR C. Jarnefelt
CMDR J. St. Peter
LCDR T. Fozka
LT V. Castillo
CMDR C. Jarnefelt
CMDR J. St. Peter
LCDR T. Fozka
LT V. Castillo
NARRATIVE: Following decontamination, a number of avenues were considered. Firstly, we established that the fungus could be weaponised, through atmospheric dispersal and person to person contact. The fungus could be modified to favour the respiratory system, increasing the spread of contagion through person to person contact.
Following this, methods of killing the fungus were researched. The U.S.S. Shackleton's encounter showed the effectiveness of UV radiation to kill the fungus and this was replicated on a simulated model of the fungus. Exact variables of the radiation were narrowed down and gained, though it is important to note that these are under a simulated creation of the fungus and not on the actual matter, which was dead on arrival.
Other tests confirmed that both intense heat and cold had an effect on the fungus. Alternative methods of fungus removal showed that a potent industrial cleaner could also remove the fungus; being fast-acting, a prior evacuation of the area would speed up the decontamination process on an area.
Chemical methods of removing the fungus were tested; the limitations imposed was that the chemical could not be fatal to biological creatures, nor damage equipment or infrastructure. Due to these limitations, testing came up negative, with the results showing that chemicals would work on individual spores, but not large areas.
On the treatment front, two breakthroughs were made. One was the administration of medication on people who need to move into a contaminated environment. This treatment can be administered by hypospray (effective in all environments) or dispersed as an aerosol (effective in enclosed environments but loses potency in open areas), and offers a three-hour window of protection against infection by the fungus.
The second breakthrough was in the treatment of already infected people. This is a dual treatment method involving a robust antifungal agent to be administered while the patient's body temperature is artificially lowered. It extremely effective in curing mild-to-moderate infection levels, but requires that the patient be monitored in temperature-controlled biobed for the duration of treatment, which can take 3 to 12 hours depending upon the severity of the infection.
However, it is important to note that these treatments only work on humans at present.
Finally, there is evidence that this fungus was genetically modified, though this modification happened over a million years ago.
RECOMMENDATION: Capture of a live sample is needed in order to solidly verify our findings, which are sufficient to base a future investigation on. Further testing needs to be done to create a treatment that is effective to many lifeforms. An investigation into possibly creating a new strain of fungus to counteract the effects of the original fungus could be warranted.
OOC: This is the AAR of a Discord RP. The raw discord logs can be found here.