SCP-022-IT
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SCP-022-IT.jpg

SCP-022-IT

Element #: SCP-022-IT

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: All samples of SCP-022-IT are contained in Laboratory 25 of Site Asclepio. Experiments involving SCP-022-IT must be performed on subjects without any information about the SCP Foundation and only by Level 3 or lower personnel. Level 4 or higher personnel must never come in contact with SCP-022-IT or with infected subjects.

The Security Protocol Gamma-2 has been created to limit as much as possible the spread of SCP-022-IT: subjects that showed symptoms of infection are to be terminated by a task force of the SSM-VI ("Mater Morbi"), which also provides for the proper containment and destruction of the remains, for the disinfection of the area involved in the operation and the surveillance of the individuals that may have been infected by the subject.

Description: SCP-022-IT is an RNA virus belonging to the family of the Retroviridae that exclusively infects humans and spreads through the exchange of infected bodily fluids. SCP-022-IT is characterized by an unusually large proteic capsid (with an approximate diameter of 400 nm) and by an extensive genome. The infection by SCP-022-IT proceeds in 5 phases:

  • First phase: after entering the bloodstream, SCP-022-IT releases proteins to reduce the host's immune reaction. The recovery rate at this stage is around 85%, but lowers to 50% if opportunistic infections develop as well.
  • Second Phase: the second stage begins when SCP-022-IT reaches the brain of the host (from 3 to 7 days after the initial infection). SCP-022-IT infects the neurons of the regions dedicated to the control of personality and memory; retroviral enzymes then allow the insertion of the viral genome in the DNA of the infected cells. The recovery rate is 15% if the subject is treated at the beginning of this phase and rapidly diminish in the following days.
  • Third Phase: the third stage begins 4 days after the beginning of the second phase. The viral genome alters the normal functions of the brain tissue, causing [DATA EXPUNGED] lethal in 30% of cases. The symptoms in this phase are similar to encephalitis, and include mood swings, catatonic phases and personality changes. Subjects report "visions" of actions, memories and sensations of other people infected by SCP-022-IT at the third or fourth stage.
  • Fourth Phase: the fourth stage begins 2 weeks after the beginning of the third phase. The symptoms recede completely and the subject appears clinically healthy; however, the host's personality has been completely replaced by SCP-022-IT whom in this stage manifests personal will.
  • Fifth Phase: the fifth stage begins 4 months after the beginning of the fourth phase; the nervous system of the subject degenerates, initially causing tremors, spasms, and sensibility loss in the extremities. In the following weeks, the symptoms worsen until the host is completely paralyzed. Infected subjects usually expire from pulmunary failure.

SCP-022-IT can control all subjects that reached the fourth stage of infection and its intelligence increases proportionally to the number of infected individuals; it can also access freely to their memories and use these information to spread the infection, hide itself, or identify threats to its existence as long as the individual who acquired them is alive. Interviews with individuals previously lobotomized and infected revealed that SCP-022-IT has as its only goal the assimilation of the host's genome to "become perfect" and spread even further: SCP-022-IT aims to eliminate the lethal symptoms of the fifth stage of infection and to increase its resistance to the human immune system.
The Security Protocol Gamma-2 has been created to prevent SCP-022-IT from reaching its goal and/or learning about the Foundation. Because of it, the new cases diminished by 83% while suspect deaths decreased by 77%.

Discovery: SCP-022-IT was discovered in 2017. After an unusual increase in cases of encephalitis in the area of █████, in the province of Ancona, several undercover agents were sent in the hospitals of the region. Analysis on the subjects revealed the presence of SCP-022-IT in their nervous tissues. Upon being informed of the discovery, the director of Site Asclepio advised the agents to keep their cover and monitor the situation. During this period, one of the patients progressed to the third phase of the infection and began reporting vivid hallucinations in which he "saw" the actions of other individuals affected by SCP-022-IT. The subject was brought to Site Asclepio to be kept under surveillance and questioned; the information thus obtained was then used by the Foundation to create the first study and containment protocols for SCP-022-IT.

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