The Firathitis Crisis: Dark Age of the Poultry Industry

1981 is regarded as one of the worst and deadliest years in Ezechardian history. The reason for this is the dreaded Firathitis Crisis.

Firathitis

Firathitis was a disease dangerous to chickens, waterfowl and Ezerior. Poultry is infected through stings of mosquitoes, and the disease can be spread onto Ezerior by contact with the infected birds or their meat. Humans are resistant to the disease, but can still spread it. The symptoms of Firathitis are sweating, heartburn, diarrhea and the various symptoms of hyperthermia.

The Crisis

The first case of Firathitis was constatated on July 24th 1981 in Rogunna, a city in southern Ezechard. Chickens infected with Firathitis were imported and quickly infected many other poultry in Rogunna. Soon, the infection spread to the sapient population of Rogunna and nearby villages. The environment was put into quarantine, but this barely influenced the spread of the virus.

At the time a cure was developed, most of the Ezechardians vaccinated and the infected poultry culled, a large part of southern and eastern Ezechard was ravaged by the disease. The Crisis finally ended on February 29th, 1982, after seven months and five days.

Influence of the Crisis

The Firathitis Crisis influenced the decision of the Ezechardian government to forbid the consumption of animals and enforce vegetarianism on April 21st. In the following years, many effort was put in preventing a similar epidemic. Since then, Ezechard has successfully handled several epidemics.