Schumacher
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Item #: SCP-XXXX

Object Class: Euclid

250px-Taenia_saginata_adult_5260_lores.jpg

Special Containment Procedures: All incoming Class D Personnel are to undergo non-invasive ultrasound screening for SCP-XXXX. Class D Personnel who consistently proclaim innocence are to be referred to site medical staff to undergo a colonoscopy.

Identified hosts are to be administered a Class-B Amnesiac and undergo surgery to remove the parasite, before being given a new identity and relocated to independent communities.

Personnel permitted direct contact to hosts of SCP-XXXX are to be preemptively assumed to be exposed, and any orders with the potential to affect hosts must be seconded by non-exposed personnel. In matters unrelated to hosts of SCP-XXXX, exposed personnel retain their authority.

Field teams are to be been equipped with mobile ultrasound systems and dispatched on a routine basis to any countries that do not participate in the Class D initiative, under the guise of missionary doctors, to attempt to discover and extradite hosts. Given the likelyhood of exposure during normal operations, they are explicitly instructed to extradite hosts regardless of their opinion on the hosts guilt or innocence.

Funds amounting to ███████ per annum are to be diverted to a variety of reputable charities running public information campaigns about the importance of cooking food, sponsoring United Nations Health Inspectors to visit livestock farms worldwide, and subsidizing the purchase of anti-parasite medication by farmers. (see Report SCP-XXXX-A: “Budget Analysis")

Description: SCP-XXXX is species of intestinal parasite similar to a common Beef Tapeworm (Taenia saginata), and genetic testing reveals the two species to be closely related. Conventional anti-parasite medication is effective against it, but only in doses considered unsafe to an organism of human mass. In humans, invasive surgery is the preferred procedure.

Like other species of tapeworm, SCP-XXXX requires two hosts to complete it's lifecycle. Within an intermediate host (generally a domestic herbivore), the juvenile members of SCP-XXXX form cysts that exhibit no anomalous properties. Effects only occur when SCP-XXXX reaches an adult form in the gut of a definite host.

SCP-XXXX causes a variety of psychological effects in people exposed to its host, though the host themselves exhibit no abnormal behavior. The effects appear to require a direct line of sight to the target and several minutes exposure to manifest. It is hypothesised the parasite may be changing the hosts biology to emit a subliminal visual or audible signal, though testing is currently inconclusive.

These effects primarily consist of abnormal rationalization regarding the host: affected individuals will spontaneously conclude that the host is guilty of a certain crime, regardless of logic and proof of the host's innocence. The crime which the host is accused of is consistent across all individuals exposed to that specific host, and invariably of a serious, typically violent, nature. Examples include accusations of serial torture and murder, occult rituals, the poisoning or bombing of large groups of people, and a variety of abusive crimes performed specifically against innocents or children.

These conclusions appear to be permanent: there is no known way to convince an individual experiencing these effects of the hosts innocence, even after removal of the parasite. Contradictory evidence is generally dismissed as isolated, coincidental or untrustworthy. If pressed further on the subject, exposed individuals often become defensive or angry, and may accuse the questioner of conspiracy or fraud.

SCP-XXXX's anomalous effects are not specific to humans: the prevailing theory is that the effects on humans are a side-effect of a feature that evolved to target carrion birds, possibly amplified by the human capacity for rationalization. Members of the Corvidae family are most strongly affected, and will mob, kill and attempt to eat the host. This behaviour is hypothesised to benefit the parasite by accelerating its lifecycle, reducing the need for an intermediate host during periods of scarcity.

Transmission of SCP-XXXX to humans is predominantly food-based: it has been found using several domestic animals as intermediate hosts, including cows and pigs, and it's cysts can survive low levels of cooking. For this reason human infestation rates are much lower in countries with primarily vegetarian diet, though the species has been found in most countries with a standing population of dedicated, meat-producing livestock.

Given the impossibility of giving hosts a fair trial (as in a conventional courtroom, the judge and jury will invariably be subjected to the parasites effects), the rate of infection amongst the SCP foundations Class-D personnel is significantly higher than that found in the general population: at the time of SCP-XXXX's discovery, it was over ██%. The SCP Foundation estimates that as many as ██% of all serious criminals across the world may be hosts.

Addendum: SCP-XXXX's discovery was referenced in the note found by Dr. ██████████'s body, and is believed to have been a primary contributer to his psychological breakdown and subsequent suicide.

Document XXXX-1: Note found in Dr. ██████████'s quarters, alongside body.
Cause of Death: Suicide (Overdose).
Date: ██-██-████
Document Text:
"I can't do this any more. We were tricked. We used people as fodder for those godforsaken things, and we told ourselves it was okay because they were criminals. Because they were evil. And only now do we learn about this thing? How did we miss this?

We're the evil ones. We're the ones who deserve to die. I'm sorry. This is the only thing I can do. It won’t make things right, but maybe this way the innocents I killed will forgive me.

Please forgive me. I didn't know."

page revision: 30, last edited: 12 Sep 2014 04:53
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