SCP-2810
Turtles All the Way Down
Special Containment Procedures
Cultures of SCP-2810 are contained in vacuum-sealed glass flasks in the Site-42 infectious materials lab. Captive instances of SCP-2810-1 kept for study should be contained in Level-4 Biohazard Containment Cells, with no more than 1 instance per cell. Mobile Task Forces Beta-7 (Maz Hatters) and Lambda-12 (Pest Control) are tasked with investigating and neutralizing all wild instances of SCP-2810-1.
Description
SCP-2810 is an unidentified pathogen, first discovered in Siberia, that infects multicellular organisms, causing the cells of the organism to transform into cell-sized versions of the organism itself (e.g. a human's cells become cell-sized humans, a sunflower's cells become cell-sized sunflowers). These composite organisms attempt to carry out the bodily functions of the original cells in an analogous manner. For example, human lungs are composed of actual humans that inhale and exhale, while plant leaves are composed of smaller, wilted plants arranged and folded in such a way that only their leaves are exposed to sunlight. Microscopic examination reveals that these cellular-sized composites are themselves composed of exponentially smaller composites carrying out their bodily functions, which in turn are composed of smaller copies, and so on. Composites do not respond to any external attempts at communication despite replicating cell signaling of their host organism. Despite the size of the composites precluding cellular function in many cases (such as gas exchange), infected organisms (termed SCP-2810-1) and their composites are able to survive and reproduce, albeit in extremely poor health.
SCP-2810 is spread by physical contact and transfer of bodily fluids. Organisms do not notice the conversion of their cells, and become fully infected within approximately two months. A cure has yet to be found. Other symptoms of the infection vary in instances of SCP-2810-1.
Infected animals may engage in dermatophagia and dermatillomania, which in turn often develops into autosarcophagy, as well as displaying dramatically reduced cognitive abilities, stamina, and coordination. For example, human instances can recognize their illness until the late stages of the disease, thereafter professing ignorance of the disease. Animal instances also become much more cooperative and social with each other, even in solitary species. Infected plants produce very little fruit, and any fruit produced tends to be a poor facsimile of the fruit of an uninfected plant. Infected fungi and protists have weakened cell walls, and tend to be sterile. However, despite being in poor physical and mental health, instances of SCP-2810-1 become totally immune to all other known diseases, mutagens, and toxins, and have drastically increased lifespans.
Addendum: Incident 2810-2 On ██/██/██, Mobile Task Force Lambda-12 encountered a mosquito with a wingspan of 10 meters preying on a herd of zebras in Africa. It was not deterred by traditional insect-repellant measures, and attempted to feed on the Task Force. Lambda-12 used flamethrowers to kill the creature, which was found to be composed of millions of SCP-2810-1 instances.