Mystery illness kills nine
Dateline Blinky Q4 3198.262
Health officials in western Blinky are urgently investigating an unidentified illness which has killed nine farmers and put 11 more in hospital. The farmers were taken ill with symptoms including high fever and vomiting during earlier in the year. All the victims, who came from Highland Province, had recently slaughtered imported pigs or sheep, local media said. The researchers are hoping to establish quickly whether the illness is dino flu, which has been found in pigs. The reports came a day after the local health authorities announced the slaughter of 100 pigs near the homes of the first three people on that world to die of dino flu. Experts have expressed fears that pigs, which can also carry human influenza, could accelerate mutation of the virus into a form which can be transmitted between people. However, an unnamed official told INN that dino flu had been ruled out as a cause of death. No official announcement has yet been made. Blinky media said the farmers suffered flu-like symptoms during the early stages of the disease but later developed bleeding under the skin and went into shock. Only one patient has so far recovered, while six of the 10 still in hospital are in a critical condition. None are thought to have had contact with each other.
Consensus Breaks Down
Dateline 3198.283 Lon Chaney Quadrant 1
The newly settled colony of Lon Chaney is at risk as the colonists and investors are at loggerheads over the future of the colony. The Colonial Founding Council has been split by major policy disagreements and members are now refusing to attend meetings. This is causing concerns for corporate investors and analysist are predicting failure of the colony unless the deadlock can be resolved.
