Gaki fever

Gaki fever was a fatal wasting disease inflicted by shikki-gaki on their victims.

Acquisition
Gaki fever was contracted from injuries inflicted by the claws of a shikki-gaki, and every fresh injury was a new opportunity for infection regardless of whether an individual's immune system had managed to fend off the disease previously. Symptoms would begin to manifest within two hours after an infection took root, and possibly as soon as twenty minutes.

Effects
Sufferers of gaki fever experienced delirium, intense fever and chills, exhaustion, and physical wasting. They were unable to think clearly (such as to cast spells), unable to engage in any strenuous physical activity (even moving quickly was impossible), and experienced a steady degradation of their well-being over the course of the following hours. The disease disrupted the body's natural rest and recovery processes, and even caused the sufferer to resist the effects of most healing magic. If they survived, the disease caused sufferers to waste away over the following days as their stamina was depleted.

Treatment
With great luck, a healthy individual could stave off the fatal final stages of gaki fever, in which case the disease would go away after two to five days of infection. However, in general the disease could only be cured by the use of a remove disease spell or similar magic. Only once the disease had been removed in this way could the individual begin to rest or to receive the benefits of other healing spells.