SCP-972

Item #: SCP-972

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-972 is to be housed in a standard humanoid containment chamber. Requests for additional furnishings or amenities are to be submitted to Dr. Louef and may be granted so long as they do not violate Foundation security protocols. All personnel physically interacting with SCP-972 must pass Infectious Disease Protocol (Foundation SOP-89B) prior to working with the anomaly.

Any and all contact with SCP-972 should take place in a manner that limits potential vectors of disease transmission for SCP-972-1. Should physical contact be deemed necessary, all personnel should don Class V Infectious Hazard gear to limit potential spread of SCP-972-1.

Description: SCP-972 is a human male of Turkish descent, formerly known as Ahmet Osman, approximately 23 years of age, standing 1.75 meters in height and weighing approximately 130 kg. In most respects, SCP-972 demonstrates baseline human qualities, with the notable exception of its mutualistic relationship with SCP-972-1.

SCP-972-1 is an anomalous double stranded DNA-reverse transcriptase (dsDNA-RT) virus that most resembles members of the Hepadnaviridae1 family. SCP-972-1 has a uniquely limited natural host range that is believed to solely consist of SCP-972. SCP-972-1 possesses a unique reproductive life cycle that enables it to remain in nucleocapsid form for long periods of time within the host cells of SCP-972, essentially enabling it to remain "dormant" for long periods of time without being degraded by the host. The presence of SCP-972-1 has been found in nearly all cells comprising SCP-972, with the sole exception of germline reproductive cells (i.e, sperm), indicating that SCP-972-1 is capable of using nearly any somatic cell type within SCP-972 as a host. Further SCP-972-1 reproduction occurs upon host cell contact with non-infected somatic cells, causing the proliferation of SCP-972-1 within the original host cell before the virus is released onto the new host cell, resulting in its infection.

SCP-972's primary anomalous effect triggers upon infection of SCP-972 by foreign viral or bacterial agents. In both cases, SCP-972-1 is believed to act in order to eliminate hostile foreign infection and preserve the host cell in question. Upon contact with bacteria during infection, SCP-972-1 causes the host cell to over-stimulate lysosome activity, creating hydrolytic enzymes that rapidly destroy all phagocytized bacteria. A similar mechanism of action is seen to occur during viral infection, which results in destruction of infectious viral particles. The means by which SCP-972-1 is able to recognize hostile activity is unknown; SCP-972-1 has shown the capability to recognize and destroy anomalous viruses such as those generated by SCP-1242, indicating that its recognition method is non-mundane.

The consequence of SCP-972-1's anomalous activity is such that SCP-972 is effectively immune to all known forms of infectious disease. Any introduction of infectious diseases to SCP-972 results in complete destruction of the disease within a period ranging from 24 hours to 1 week, depending on the reproductive potential of the disease in question. During this period, SCP-972 experiences minor symptoms found in common diseases such as elevated body temperature, reduced appetite, and overall lethargy, but otherwise demonstrates no symptoms of the specific disease that it was infected with.

SCP-972 Acquisition Report: SCP-972 came into Foundation custody on 5/6/2016 following a joint operation with the UIU that raided a Marshall Carter & Dark facility that had been housing SCP-972 and a number of other humanoid anomalies. Numerous files pertaining to SCP-972 were recovered during this operation, the relevant contents of which have been trimmed and included below.

Initial Report
Author Jonathan Barker Date June 05, 2008
Interest High Identifier Panacea
While scoping out other merchandise, I came across this particular specimen which I think might be our golden goose. He's immune to any kind of disease that we can toss at him, with no side effects that we've been able to find so far. Biology department has done their work on him, and found out that he's got some existing virus in his blood that prevents any diseases from affecting him. We're conducting research to see whether or not this carries over to people who receive a transplant of his blood. Initial results are pretty promising, and the biology department is revving up their tests, so they should have full results soon.

More importantly for us (and you're not gonna believe the luck on this one), the kid's got O-negative blood. If we milk this cash cow right, we could be swimming in revenue for decades. How many people you think will pony up for a vial of blood that can kill any disease? Hell, we've got plenty of clientele who will probably pay a pretty penny to get rid of their worst habits, if you catch my drift.
File Opened Under: PNCEA/8MER1/Z62FT
Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP.
Research Update 1
PNCEA/8MER1/Z62FT
Sender Jonathan Barker Recipient Malcolm Jones
Initial tests are giving us the greenlight for mass production. Our first buyer (who signed waivers out the ass for the privilege) had been on antiviral therapy for HIV for about 10 years. One transplant of Panacea blood later, and he's cleared of the disease in a week. Biology department is already working round the clock to figure out the minimum amount that we need to transplant to each patient, as well as the most efficient production schedule that we can run with the specimen.

So, what color do you want your new car to be, sir? Starting to do some shopping for mine.
Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP
Research Update 2
PNCEA/8MER1/Z62FT
Sender Jonathan Barker Recipient Malcolm Jones
We've worked out a procedure and a minimum dosage that optimizes our production schedule. Extractions three times a week, with a rest period of a week every two months is about the limit that the biology department thinks we can feasibly run without too much wear and tear. We've already got about 100 orders on record, and it's barely been a week.

P.S: You were right, Elizabeth loves the electric green. Great choice.
Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP
Research Update 3
PNCEA/8MER1/Z62FT
Sender Dr. Hrishikesh Sharma Recipient Malcolm Jones
We're shutting down Panacea. Barker got a little over-eager, and pushed it out faster than we would've liked in the biology department, but I guess the dollar signs were too much to resist. Panacea does its job admirably in terms of eliminating hostile infections, but the problem occurs when the viral load approaches a tipping point in the new body.

We know that the virus eventually spreads to almost all of the cells in the body (as we saw from the original specimen years ago), but the issue occurs in all hosts that aren't the original specimen: the virus won't quit replicating. We're not sure why, but the virus continues to grow out of control in all of its new hosts, until the point at which the host cells start bursting due to the overabundance of viral particles. This can occur slowly over time, or all at once, and let me tell you, the results are not pretty. Our first buyer had to be scooped to the morgue in jars.

The rate at which this occurs is variable in hosts. Some hosts can live for decades without any problems, but in others, it starts showing signs within a few years. Moreover, it's not just his blood that transmits it-we've seen early signs in some workers who we think came into contact with his saliva, meaning that there are a lot of employees who need to be tested. Once word of this gets out, nobody's going to trust our products anymore. We have to shut it down now and bury the evidence before this fully bites us in the ass. I've tabbed the original specimen for disposal-he's already in transit to the dump site.
Marshall, Carter and Dark, LLP
Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License