Husk Infection

	Data is potentially outdated
	Last updated for version 0.20.16.1 Last mentioned in changelog 1.4.4.1 The current game version is 1.4.5.0

See also: Afflictions

Something dark and unpleasant moves in the mouth. They are rendered completely mute, save for occasional clicking sounds apparently emanating from deep within the throat.

A husk infection can be caused by being bitten by a husked creature (most commonly, the Husk) or injected with Calyx Extract. It can be inflicted upon humans and Crawlers, turning them into Husked Humans and Husked Crawlers respectively if not cured. A single bite/injection is enough to infect a character, and the affliction progressively gets worse. As the infection progresses, the player will be prompted with messages about the infection.

Effects

The infection can be divided in four stages: dormant, active, transformed, and final.

• The dormant stage of the infection (up to 50 strength) has no adverse side effects. The affliction will not be shown on the health-interface until the infection reaches 40 strength. A player using a Health Scanner HUD can detect the infection once it reaches 20 strength.

• The active stage (50-75 strength) will add a 30% speech impediment to affected humans. This will garble radio-communications (similar to the effects of approaching the maximum communications range), and reduce the range of local (i.e. non-headset) chat by 30%.

• The transformed stage of the infection (75-100 strength) has both negative and positive effects: A stinger-like appendage will grow out of the character's throat which can be used to attack with and spread the infection to other characters or creatures, slightly healing the host for every successful attack. It also add a 100% speech impediment, completely preventing any communication – neither the command-interface, nor text-chat, nor voice-chat will work. In this stage, the character will also develop an immunity to pressure everywhere except the Abyss , along with the ability to breathe underwater, allowing affected humans to freely swim in the Europan ocean without a Diving Suit. Any character that dies during this stage will "revive" as a husk.

• The final stage (at 100 strength) will make the afflicted character have seizures while slowly dying of internal damage, rising back from the dead as an NPC Husk or Husked Crawler. Husks do not revive a second time after being killed.
• It is not possible to treat a character with Calyxanide at the final stage, but it is possible to cure them at a Medical Clinic in an outpost.

In the absence of treatment or Husk Infection Resistance, the dormant stage will last 166.6 seconds (2 minutes and 46 seconds) and the active and transformed stages will last another 83.3 seconds (1 minute and 23 seconds) each. Injection with Calyx Extract will therefore take 333.3 seconds (5 minutes and 33 seconds) to reach the final stage. Bites by husks will generally add some amount of husk infection, speeding the infection up.

Should a character have Husk Genetic Material implanted into them with a gene splicer, affliction strength will stop rising at 90 infection strength, preventing them from reaching the final stage, although they will still enter the transformed stage.

Treatment

The best known treatment for a husk infection is Calyxanide. It will heal 100 infection strength, or 60 in case of failure, in 1 second. The other option is Broad-spectrum Antibiotics, which heals 30 infection strength, or 15 on failure, in 60 seconds (however, keep in mind that the infection will continue to progress during these 60s, so an infection of strength 30 will not be cured by a single dose; infection strength 23 will). If the infection strength wasn't brought down to 0, it will grow back, requiring more treatment. Completely removing the infection grants the player the "I am the cure" Achievement.

Neither treatment will be effective during or after the final stage, and Calyxanide will actually damage husks and patients in the final stage.

Broad-spectrum Antibiotics also apply 600 of the Husk Infection Resistance buff (300 if the skill check is failed). This buff grants the user a 0% - 75% reduction to the increase of Husk Infection based on its strength. The strength of this buff decreases at a rate of 1/s. Notably, this buff will not reduce the chance of being infected by bites or injected calyx extract.

Table

Affliction	Limb Specific	Vitality Scaling	Strength Change	Strength Range	Effects	Treatments	Caused By
Husk Infection ID: huskinfection Type: alieninfection	No (Shown on Torso)	No	+0.3/s	0 - 50 Dormant stage	Hidden from Health Scanner HUD until 20 strength Hidden Affliction icon from health bar until 40 strength	Calyxanide (-100 | -60)* 38 Broad-spectrum Antibiotics (-30 | -15)* 25 Rum (-30)* -	Calyx Extract (+0.01)* -
				50-75 Active Stage	30% speech impediment. Garbles radio-chat, reduces range of local chat.
				75 - 100 Transformed stage	Waterbreathing Pressure immunity (except in the Abyss) Unable to chat/radio Special infectious attack (Used by pressing the [Creature Attack] key (Default: )) Revival as a husk on death
				100 Final Stage	Death.

Trivia

• The name of the achievement for curing another player is most likely a reference to SCP-049, from SCP: Containment Breach, who also says "I am the cure". This is also enforced by the fact that the achievement's image is a medieval plague doctor, like how SCP-049 looks.

• According to Dr. Happy (columnist for The Europan), husk infection is never cured, only pacified: "with proper treatment (I trust you’ve been taking your Calyxanide as prescribed?), a person with a dormant husk infection can lead a completely normal and fulfilling life, with practically no risk of further contagion. Also, knowing there’s a grotesque, flesh-eating snake-thing dormant in your throat will add an extra dimension of excitement…"

• During the active stage of infection, players will no longer pass out if they wear a Diving Mask or Diving Suit filled with a Welding Fuel Tank. However, the fuel will be consumed as normal.