Magical Mono

Magical Mono or Magical Mononucleosis is a highly infectious magical disease that is similar to the Muggle version of the disease, Mononucleosis. Flu symptoms are common, but it is distinguished by the coloured spots that appear on its victims' skin. Spot colours tend to correspond with the house affiliation of the infected person who passes on the disease. (Example: a Slytherin kisses a Hufflepuff; the Hufflepuff gets green spots. That same Hufflepuff kisses a Ravenclaw, the Ravenclaw gets yellow spots, etc.) Magical Mono is predominantly spread through kissing, but mouth-to-mouth contact is not always necessary, and chance of reinfection tends to be quite high. There have been three outbreaks of the disease at Hogwarts, but only once has this developed into a widespread epidemic across the whole of Wizarding Britain in 1952-53. Symptoms have varied within each outbreak of the disease.

Outbreak of 1973-74

In the 1973-74 school year, Magical Mono plagued Hogwarts.

Initially, symptoms affected the head and respiratory systems, mimicking a cold (cough, runny nose, fatigue, general feeling of being unwell). After a few days, the cold symptoms vanished, but patients found bright spots which seemed to correspond to Hogwarts house colors. The spots lasted for about three days and then disappeared. After the spots disappeared, patients felt fully recovered. The entire illness appeared to last anywhere between three and nine days. Suggested treatments included Mild pain potion and Pepperup Potion, which cured the cold symptoms but not the spots, which vanished on their own.

Case Studies

Patient Name: Juniper Kedding
House: Gryffindor
Year: Sixth
Observations of Infection(s):
At the start of the term, the patient complained of a headcold. Upon further inspection, the nurses found small green spots on Ms. Kedding.
Diagnosis:
As this was one of the first cases of MM in the Hospital Wing, diagnosis was purely theoretical. Theories ranged from spattergroit to scrofungulus. The nurses, not knowing how to approach treatment for the spots, treated Juniper for her headcold with a Pepper-Up potion. The patient was free of all symptoms with 72 hours.

Patient Name: Cordelia Swansea
House: Slytherin
Year: Sixth
Observations of Infection(s):
In October, Ms. Swansea exhibited the symptoms of the flu along with small green spots on her. During the first week of November, Ms. Swansea was diagnosed again with the same flu-like symptoms but with blue spots instead of the earlier green. In January and February, the patient came down with the disease again, displaying green spots. And lastly, Cordelia was inflicted by first blue, then green spots during two bouts of the disease in March.
Diagnosis:
At first, the nurses in the Hospital Wing thought she had come down with some sort of dragon pox/flu combination, but quickly ruled it out due to the lack of the green skin that is common with dragonpox. Upon further inspection, Ms. Swansea was declared to be a multiple victim of Magical Mononucleosis. The changing of the spots during different observations were due to the nature of the disease. Cordelia contracted the green spots from a Slytherin, and the blue from a Ravenclaw.

Patient Name: Lila Bixby
House: Hufflepuff
Year: Fourth
Observations of Infection(s):
In mid-January, Ms. Bixby came to the Hospital Wing with a fever. She could not keep warm and showed the blue spots the HW nurses had started to become familiar with.
Diagnosis:
The nurses believed that Lila's fever was conflicting with the chills racking through her body, disallowing it to stay at a comfortable temperature. They prescribed the patient a Pepper-Up potion to treat her ‘common cold’-like symptoms and a mild pain potion to alleviate any pain the spots were giving her as well as the fatigue she was suffering from.

Patient Name: Henry Willis
House: Slytherin
Year: Fourth
Observations of Infection(s):
On February 16th, Mr. Willis reported to the hospital wing suffering from flu like symptoms. He returned two days later sporting large, yellow spots all over his body and seemed to be suffering from extreme nervousness. The next day, on the 19th, Mr. Willis returned to the hospital wing, this time seeking treatment for his teeth which had grown two inches since the day before.
Diagnosis:
Mr. Willis was given cold medication when he first reported to the hospital wing, though Magical Mononucleosis was suspected given the illness's proximity to Valentine’s Day. This suspicion was confirmed when he returned with the spots. The nervousness and enlarging of the teeth were not put down as symptoms, but put down to a byproduct of him kissing a Hufflepuff student.

Outbreak of 1943-44

In the 1943-44 school year, Magical Mono returned to Hogwarts. Felix Oliveroot-Leontine was Patient Zero.

Those infected were highly contagious for up to fourteen days before any symptoms began to manifest. Like the last outbreak in 1973-74, initial symptoms mimicked those of the common cold. At the height of the infection, patients experienced brightly coloured spots corresponding to the house colour(s) of the person or people that they caught it from. Spots lasted anywhere between three and nine days, and after the spots disappeared, patients felt fully recovered. Again, suggested treatments included Mild pain potion and Pepperup Potion, which cured the cold symptoms but not the spots, which vanished on their own.

New To This Strand

If a patient came into contact with more than one infected person while they were contagious, they would experience spots of multiple colours, according to the Hogwarts houses of those they caught it from.

Outbreak of 1952-53

By far the worst outbreak of Magical Mono in wizarding history, it lasted nearly a full year, from July 1952 until June 1953. The outbreak was divided into three distinct sections: the initial outbreak at Camp Loki in July 1952 (known as Strand 1A of Magical Mono), the second wave in August 1952 (known as Strand 1B of Magical Mono), and the development into Mega Mono from September 1952 onwards. Pax Fellwater was Patient Zero, and he unwittingly spread the disease to far too many people during a game of Spin The Bottle on the first night there. Good job, Pax.

July 1952 (Strand 1A)

Infection: After kissing an infected person, victims were highly infectious for a period lasting from seven to fourteen days. No symptoms manifested during this time, which meant it was very easy to unwittingly pass it on to others.

Symptoms: Symptoms included all those of the common cold e.g. coughing, sore throats, runny noses, general aching pains, and fatigue. Several days after these first symptoms appeared, bright spots followed in either red, yellow, green, or blue, or orange. The first four colours corresponded to the Hogwarts houses e.g. if a victim caught it off a Gryffindor, they ended up with red spots; if it was a Hufflepuff, they got a yellow break-out, etc. Orange spots appeared if victims caught it off a student from a different magical school. If victims kissed people from multiple houses/schools, they received all the relevant colours of spots e.g. kissing a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin = blue and green spots. These spots lasted anywhere from three to fourteen days. The disappearance of the spots marked the end of the infection, and victims felt completely normal after this occurred.

Treatment: Simple/mild pain potions and Pepperup potions were used to treat the cold-like symptoms, but the spots stayed put until the end of the infection.

New to this strand: Infection was only passed through kissing, unlike in previous outbreaks where mouth-to-mouth contact was not necessary. The spots lasted up to five days longer than in previous outbreaks, which suggested that this was a more persistent strand than those in previous years. The orange spots were a new addition too, and most likely developed to account for the number of non-Hogwarts students at Camp Loki.

August 1952 (Strand 1B)

Infection: On 1 August 1952, campers found that a few subtle changes to Magical Mono occurred. After kissing an infected person, patients were highly infectious for a period lasting from one to seven days. Again, no symptoms manifested during this time, which meant it was very easy to unwittingly pass it on to others. Victims who had caught the Strand 1A (see above) automatically became infectious again for seven days from 1 August to 8 August, but did not necessarily show all symptoms.

Symptoms: Symptoms began to manifest between the third and seventh day of the infectious period. They lasted anywhere between fourteen and twenty eight days. The disappearance of the spots marked the end of the infection, and patients felt completely normal after this occurred. The symptoms were primarily the same as those in the initial strand, but with a few key differences:

• Victims of this strand did not necessarily catch the common cold symptoms.
• The spots on new victims were much bigger -- nearly double in size -- and were extremely itchy.
• Some previously cured patients/victims discovered a reappearance in their old spots (in the same colours as before). These were also double the size as before, and potentially itchy.

Treatment: Simple/mild pain potions and Pepperup potions were used to treat any cold-like symptoms; simple/mild pain potions or herbal remedies relieved some itchiness; again, the spots stayed put until the end of the infection.

New to this strand: Infection was only passed through kissing or inheritance from strand 1A. Symptoms occurred much earlier and lasted much longer, emphasising this strand's persistence.

September 1952 (Mega Mono - Hogwarts)

Infection: Those who were still infectious with Strand 1B at the end of August 1952 found that, upon their return to school, the virus had evolved into Mega Mono and that they automatically became infectious once again for a period of fourteen days. Those who came into contact with an infectious person also became highly infectious for fourteen days. Mega Mono, as the name suggests, was an evolved version of the strands experienced over the summer. It was no longer spread only through kissing; rather, the disease was airborne and could be spread through saliva, sneezing, or even just close proximity to an infected person. Chances of reinfection were incredibly high.

Symptoms: Symptoms included all those of the common cold e.g. coughing, sore throats, runny noses, general aching pains, and fatigue. However, these symptoms were far more severe than in the summer strand, perhaps more like flu than a cold. Symptoms appeared seven days after victims became infectious. However, if this was not the first time a victim had caught Mega Mono, they might not have experienced the flu-like symptoms again. Several days after these first flu-like symptoms appeared, bright spots followed in either red, yellow, green, or blue, or orange. The first four colours corresponded to the Hogwarts houses e.g. if a victim caught it off a Gryffindor, they ended up with red spots; if it was a Hufflepuff, they got a yellow break-out, etc. Orange spots appeared if victims caught it off someone who did not attend/had not yet attended Hogwarts. If victims kissed people from multiple houses/schools, they received all the relevant colours of spots e.g. kissing a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin = blue and green spots. Some victims found that the spots were itchy. Those who automatically inherited Mega Mono (from the summer strands) re-inherited the spots they initially had. These spots did not appear fade at all, though other symptoms disappeared after one to two weeks.

Treatment: Simple/mild pain potions and Pepperup potions were used to treat any cold-like symptoms; simple/mild pain potions or herbal remedies relieved some itchiness; however, potions and herbal remedies became less and less effective at treating the disease than they were previously. No treatment was found to remove the spots.

New to this strand: Infection was now airborne and could be passed through saliva and close proximity; mouth-to-mouth contact was no longer necessary. The infectious period was always two weeks. Symptoms were more severe than in the summer strand, and even after the cold/flu-like symptoms disappeared, the spots remained.

October 1952 (Mega Mono - Elsewhere)

Mega Mono was not so much of a problem for the rest of the wizarding world until after the Hogsmeade weekend on 25 October 1952. Students spread the disease all over Hogsmeade, and from there it spread to Diagon Alley, Wizarding London, and everywhere else. Though some citizens may have found themselves infectious before October, it was only after this date that the epidemic truly begun. Infection, symptoms, and treatment all worked in the same way as at Hogwarts (see above).

The Cure

After Mega Mono spread to the rest of Wizarding Britain and the spots showed no signs of fading, St Mungo's Healers began to work overtime to try and discover a cure for the disease. Medical Research was funded by the Social Reconstruction Committee.

The epidemic continued to spread and no sign of a cure was found up until May 1953, when Ryan Ward, a Junior Healer from the Spell Damage department, was tasked with combing through the Medical Library Records for any helpful information Healers might have missed previously. While conducting his search, Ryan discovered a patient file that had fallen down the back of a cabinet. A single line in the file documents the patient’s recovery from a severe and rare form of magical acne after being treated with a medicine containing molten Antimony.

Two Spell Damage Healers, Cyrus Galanis and Eugene Prothero, then drafted a list of other medicinal treatments that could potentially be combined with the Antimony to create a cure for all aspects of Mega Mono. The Department of Medical Research worked on creating and trialling these cures over the next month, with little success. However, in early June 1953, two Medical Research Junior Healers, Icarus Argabright and Laura Fitzpatrick, produced a combination that proved to be successful. The medicine was tested on Hildegard Frogg, a cook at the Hogsmeade Home for Children, with stellar results: her spots and flu symptoms vanished within an hour of taking the medicine.

Mass production of the cure soon ensued, funded by the Social Reconstruction Committee, and by 22 June 1953, there was enough of it to cure all of Wizarding Britain. The final cure took the form of a small, silver pill. It had no taste, and was taken orally.

Distribution of the Cure

Everybody who had been infected was required to take the cure, with no exceptions. The cure was distributed throughout Wizarding Britain over the course of just over a month, and Wizarding Britain was officially declared spot-free on 26 June 1953.

Distribution was structured as follows:

• On Monday 22 June 1953, all employees at St Mungo's were given the cure.
• On Tuesday 23 June and Wednesday 24 June 1953, St Mungo's Healers visited Hogwarts to distribute the cure to all students and staff affected by Mega Mono. One Healer was assigned to give staff their pills, and others were assigned to the four houses.
• On Thursday 25 June and Friday 26 June 1953, Healers visited all the larger workplaces and businesses to dispense the pill to employees. Healers began at the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet, and then moved to other large businesses.
• From Saturday 27 June until Sunday 12 July 1953, all other civilians who had Mega Mono were expected to visit St Mungo's for their pill. Appointment times were issued in advance from Monday 22 June to Friday 26 June 1953. Those who did not receive an appointment time by Friday 26 June were advised to contact the hospital. Civilians who visited St Mungo's without an appointment or outside their appointment time were not seen unless there was an appointment cancellation.
• From 13 July to 26 July 1953, spillover appointments were available for those who were unable to attend their original appointments.