Item #: SCP-5350
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: An international ad campaign is to be launched advocating for the consumption of plant-based products, and to eschew eating meats. Vaccinations in the forms of thaumaturgically-enhanced flu vaccines and memetic agents reducing the urge to eat meat are to be distributed among the global populace. Those infected with SCP-5350 are to be placed into permanent quarantine, until the subject has expired or recovered.
MTF Beta-7 "Maz-Hatters" is responsible for clean up and disposal of animals infected with SCP-5350. Infected animals are to be neutralized and remains cremated. Gen+ and Gen++ technology is to be used to systematically destroy and recreate portions of the biosphere, slightly editing the genome of recreated species to be immune to SCP-5350. A sample of SCP-5350 is to be retained in Site-14, a dedicated anomalous diseases research facility.
Informational pamphlet that was widely distributed by the WPO and the CADC (Center for Anomalous Disease Control). Expand image.
Description: SCP-5350 is a thaumaturgically altered pathogen derived from the influenza virus, that spontaneously grows into a fully functional eye (SCP-5350-A) on contact with mammal tissue. These eyes are often nonhuman in physical appearance, and can exhibit conflicting biology with its host. SCP-5350-A are filled with an aqueous solution containing more SCP-5350; the eyes easily burst, further propagating the spread of SCP-5350. As such, initial high-density infections on human bodies are in areas frequently subject to friction or prolonged contact with objects, such as the palms, back, groin, or soles of feet.
SCP-5350 is weak to extreme temperatures, and can only last outside of a host for 30 minutes before expiring. Infection of SCP-5350 has been correlated to a high degree of certainty to a meat-based diet.
Due to wide consumption of meat contaminated with SCP-5350 before the Foundation was fully aware of the anomaly, a significant portion of the population had been infected by the colloquial terms "Oculus Flu," or "Oculoma". Symptoms may include: sore throat, ulcers, upset stomach, eye-filled diarrhea, little-to-no appetite, and difficulty breathing. There is no known cure for SCP-5350, only preventative measures. Treatments can neutralize the spread of a SCP-5350 infection in its early stages, but even as SCP-5350 ceases to be virulent, the eyes become coated with a hard, translucent chitin, remaining fully functional but rendering excision from the surrounding tissue next-to-impossible.
The majority of untreated patients die of asphyxiation due to buildup of SCP-5350-A within the lungs, and patients who are infected for more than six months invariably become covered in SCP-5350-A. People infected rarely survive longer than a year without treatment, and those who recover are subject to extreme emotional trauma due to body dysmorphia and discrimination. A joint action between the Foundation, World Parahealth Organization (WPO), Manna Charitable Foundation (MCF), and Unusual Incidents Unit (UIU) was organized to stop the spread of SCP-5350.
Addendum 5350/1: Archived documentation of online civilian reaction to SCP-5350.
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Project Scopophobia Recording:
- ACCESS GRANTED
SECURE DOCUMENT
Audio/Visual Transcript
- SCP Foundation Representative - Eli Roth
- GOC/WPO Representative - Arpeggio
- MCF Representative - Meredith Medicae
- UIU/Free Ports Representative - Seth Bradley
<Begin Log>
Roth: Alright, this is the first official meeting of the Task Force created to deal with SCP-5350, also known as "Oculoma". Can you all state your name for the official record. I, of course, am Eli Roth, head of the Department of Epidemiology of the SCP Foundation. Usually, I delegate jobs to one of my subordinates, but due to the scale and speed of Oculoma… [clears throat] I assumed control at my end.
Medicae: Hello, I'm Meredith Medicae, I run the Disease and Disaster Relief branch of the Manna Charitable Foundation, ahem. It really is humbling to be surrounded by such powerful people, and I don't really know why I am here.
Roth: You're here because you're needed. This is what you signed up for.
Medicae: This is nothing like what I signed up for. The scale… it's way too big… [Medicae sinks into her chair and breathes heavily.]
Bradley: I am Seth Bradley, representative of both the UIU and the Free Ports. As I grew up in Portlands, I, along with my supervisors and the City Council, feel like I can handle my role better than anyone. The Free Ports have agreed to allocate all of their resources to our cause. They have been hit… especially hard.
Arpeggio: I am Agent Arpeggio, representative of the GOC, the World Parahealth Organization, and the UN Security Council.
Roth: Now that we're all settled in, Arpeggio, can you give us a recap on the situation?
Arpeggio: Gladly. [Arpeggio stands and grabs a remote. He clicks and a projector turns on] As you can see here, the infection first started in the American Northwest, around Oregon. The source of the disease is presumed to be this meat packing plant [Arpeggio clicks to a slide with a picture of a pile of rubble], which was demolished by Foundation personnel. The infection was started, we think, by Emilia Roberts, a known anartist with a thing for animals.
Bradley: Kind've backfired on her, didn't it? I haven't seen a dog with only two eyes for months.
Arpeggio: After the Veil dropped, she hooked up with PETA, and other extremist organizations, teaching them thaumaturgy and other non-baseline abilities. History of multiple accounts of assault with a deadly weapon, slander, attempted murder, vandalism, and civilian-use of a military-grade anomaly. A piece of work, to put it lightly. The rest of her cult of personality was arrested after a pharmaceutical facility raid gone bad, but she escaped. We are still hunting for her.
Bradley: I would just like to say that all Free Ports have barred her and her friends from entering. The Chicago Spirit has set up a hefty bounty for her head, so even Eurtec isn't safe for her.
Roth: Finally, some good news.
Arpeggio: The new plague travelled fast, hit Three Portlands, traveled through the Ways into the UK, where it quickly spread through Eurasia. Once it aerosolized… It was game over for the UK.
Roth: [leans forward and put his head in his palms] God I miss the days when we could just hit the reset button on the entire world.
Medicae: I've seen the documents. What you and your organization did was wrong and immoral, killing billions of people just to start over again? You should be ashamed of yourselves. Didn't you say you had an Ethics Committee to keep you in check?
Roth: Hey, I wasn't the one pushing the reset button, and at least we're here to argue about it. And if the Foundation is so immoral, how come we didn't reset the world again when fucking 4chan leaked all of our documents?
Medicae: Ha, nice slipup on your part.
Arpeggio: Ladies, ladies, calm down and take a Xanax. I know we are all high strung, but please pay attention to my presentation.
Medicae: Fine, but don't expect me to get along with him [pointing towards Roth].
Arpeggio: Fine by me. If you'll please pay attention to my presentation, we have found three methods that might work against the virus. One, a large scale thaumaturgical working that would completely dispel SCP-5350 or render it inert-
Bradley: Which would create so much backlash the Earth would be cracked in half.
Arpeggio: -Two, create a memetic agent to make everyone vegetarian, thus immune to the infection-
Bradley: Which would completely ignore the widespread infection covering every lion, tiger, and bear in the world.
Arpeggio: -And three, scorched earth protocol. We herd the last remnants of humanity into bunkers, nuke the place, and start over from scratch.
[Complete silence]
Roth: Well that's a bit grim.
Bradley: And a bit overkill.
Medicae: We obviously can't go with any of those options, right?
Bradley: Obviously.
Arpeggio: Are there any other options.
Medicae: Not that, for sure.
Bradley: Well… why so large scale? If all the things we do on the macro hurt us, what about the micro?
Roth: [nodding] Instead of one large ritual, it's thousands or millions of little tiny ones. That way, instead of relying on the power in the earth's mantle, you could just use the heat of the human body.
Medicae: Ohhh, now I get it. It would be like the "Thaumoshots," that we received a couple of years ago.
Arpeggio: …Come again?
Medicae: They were called Thaumoshots. The syringes were either iron or silver, and the vaccine was magically enhanced. They worked for everyone, even people who had the disease or were immunocompromised were fine after a couple weeks. We never knew who sent them, but would send an email requesting more, and the next day a box full of the thaumoshots showed up, no matter where we were deployed.
Roth: [looking at Arpeggio] Could that work? Logistically, I mean.
Arpeggio: Theoretically, yeah. You have a ritual over a fifty-gallon tank of standard flu vaccines, rig it to activate once inside a human body, and get the body temperature to power the ritual? I don't see why not? The initial ritual would require about as much power that's found in a couple lithium-ion batteries, so it's financially feasible. But we can't just keep making this vaccine forever for the entirety of the human race.
Medicae: So why not combine it with the memes? Vaccine everyone, and then meme 'em?
Roth: Make everyone vegetarian, you mean?
Medicae: Yeah, that.
Roth: Of course, even curing everyone of the infection, we still would have to deal with every other creature scuttling around with thousands of eyes.
Arpeggio: I'm pretty sure the PTOLEMY division developed some top of the line cloning devices. If we mass-produced them, we could reconstruct the entirety of the biosphere in ten, fifteen years.
Roth: Well, we got a lot done in 15 minutes. Let's take a coffee break, and come back to hash out the details. Let's provisionally call this… Project Scopophobia, why not.
Bradley: Sounds good to me.
Arpeggio: Sure.
Medicae: I'm ok with it.
<End Log>
- ACCESS GRANTED
Addendum 5350/2: Thanks to the efforts of the organizations involved with the effort, the spread of SCP-5350 was slowed drastically. From 2026-2030, the amount of infected individuals lowered from 1.3 billion to under 500 million. Projections estimate SCP-5350 will cease to be an epidemic in 2034. Complete eradication, however, is unfeasible at this time.
Recovered Audio: Through tracing viral loads in monitored water systems and simulated epidemiological models, the WPO and CADC were able to narrow down the origin of the infection to meat packing plants within North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. After thorough examination of the plants, a large mass of tissue was discovered in the ventilation shaft of a plant owned by the Tönnies Group. This mass was composed of discarded bovine and porcine flesh, presumably scavenged from the facility, along with unidentifiable human tissue. The mass possessed several vents from which exuded 5350 particulate, ceasing upon discovery. As the mass was removed from the ventilation shaft, several mouths emerged from beneath flaps of skin, speaking in several languages.
Who are we, to constantly commit genocide against our four-legged relatives?
Who are we to determine what's sapient or not based on skin-deep analysis?
Who are we to determine a dog's life is worth more than a pig's?
With animals, there's more than meets the eye.
The artwork repeated this message until expiration.