Disease

Colonists sometimes contract diseases.

Most diseases have the following:

• General Symptoms - initial symptoms that develop in the first few days of being sick.
• Advanced Symptoms - symptoms that set in when the disease progresses for any reason (eg. being untreated or gets worse).
• Treatment - some illnesses are treatable with medicine, but not all diseases are treatable.

Treatment

At regular intervals, a resting colonist can be treated by a doctor. This slows the progression of symptoms, and for most diseases it is very important to treat the colonist as often as possible. You cannot give a new treatment until the last one has expired, and you can see the remaining time by hovering over the disease in the colonist's health tab. The treatment interval varies for each disease.

Treatment Quality is determined by a variety of factors, including the doctor's skill and the quality of medicine used.

Immunity: Colonists will gradually develop immunity to some diseases, such as infections or plague. When immunity reaches 100%, the symptoms will not immediately disappear, but the colonist is safe and no longer needs any treatment. If the disease symptoms progress past "extreme" before immunity reaches 100%, the colonist will die. Immunity Gain Speed is affected by the colonist's food, rest, bed quality, age, and blood filtration.

Blood Filtration is a major factor in getting better from diseases. Poor blood filtration may result in sicknesses developing more than they would usually. Older colonists are more susceptible to sickness than younger ones. Colonists with only one kidney have their blood filtration reduced by 50%.

General Disease

Listed below are typical 'diseases' in RimWorld.

Flu

General Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Impaired manipulation
• Impaired breathing

Advanced Symptoms:

• Loss of consciousness

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)

Plague

General Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Impaired manipulation

Advanced Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Impaired manipulation
• Impaired breathing
• Loss of consciousness

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)

Malaria

Easier to contract in the jungle.

General Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Impaired blood filtration

Advanced Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Loss of consciousness

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)

Infection

Untreated wounds may get infected, causing a colonist to be mildly sick for a while. However, untreated infections can be fatal.

General Symptoms:

• Pain

Advanced Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Impaired breathing
• Unconsciousness

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)
• Can also be treated by amputating the affected body part

Cataracts

Cataracts are the clouding of the lens on your eye which may occur spontaneously with age similarly to bad back. Unlike bad back, cataracts are a very serious impairment, but technically treatable via surgery of the eye.

General Symptoms:

• Impaired sight (-35%)

Sleeping Sickness

A parasitic disease carried by insects in the jungle biome.

It's notable that sleeping sickness takes a very long time to recover from.

General Symptoms:

• Impaired consciousness
• Impaired manipulation

Advanced Symptoms:

• Loss of consciousness

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 80,000 ticks (22.22 mins)

Gut Worms

A parasitic disease which doubles that rate at which colonists become hungry.

Can be contracted in the following biomes: arid shrubland, desert, extreme desert, boreal forest, tundra, temperate forest, and tropical rainforest.

General Symptoms:

• Increaser hunger rate (200% of base)
• Increased vomit rate (to average once per day)

Advanced Symptoms:

• None

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
• Treatment count: 5

Muscle Parasites

A parasitic disease hampering the muscles.

General Symptoms:

• Impaired manipulation (-30%)
• Impaired movement speed (-30%)

Advanced Symptoms:

• None

Treatment:

• Treated with medicine
• Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
• Treatment count: 5

Fibrous Mechanites

A Mechanoid disease which brings mild pain in early stages but boosts several attributes.

General Symptoms:

• Tiredness (*170%)
• Mild pain (+0.2)
• Improved manipulation (+50%)
• Improved movement speed (+50%)
• Improved blood pumping (+50%)

Advanced Symptoms:

• Intense pain (+0.6)
• No additional stat boosts over early stages

Treatment:

• Treated with or without medicine, though medicine speeds up recovery
• Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
• Can disappear without treatment as early as 900,000 ticks (250 mins)
• Can last without treatment as long as 1,800,000 ticks (500 mins)

Sensory Mechanites

A Mechanoid disease which brings mild pain in early stages but boosts sensory perception.

General Symptoms:

• Mild pain (+0.2)
• Improved sight (+50%)
• Improved hearing (+50%)
• Improved talking (+50%)
• Improved manipulation (+30%)

Advanced Symptoms:

• Intense pain (+0.6)
• No additional stat boosts over early stages

Treatment:

• Treated with or without medicine, though medicine speeds up recovery
• Treatment duration: 120,000 ticks (33.33 mins)
• Can disappear without treatment as early as 900,000 ticks (250 mins)
• Can last without treatment as long as 1,800,000 ticks (500 mins)

Disease Frequency

Disease frequency by difficulty

Difficulty	Disease interval multiplier
Free Play	3
Basebuilder	1.5
Rough	1.0
Challenge	1.0
Extreme	0.9

Non-disease Diseases

The following are listed as defined in the same file diseases are, but aren't really diseases.

Anesthetic

Used in surgery to make sure that a colonist is unconscious.

General Symptoms:

• Unconsciousness (sets to 10%)

Treatment:

• Wears off after 15,000 ticks (4.17 mins)

Bad Back

The older a colonist is, the more likely they're going to hurt their back one day (or just naturally develop one).

General Symptoms:

• Impaired movement (-30%)
• Impaired manipulation (-10%)

Concussion

Similar to anesthetic, lasts a little longer.

General Symptoms:

• Unconsciousness (sets to 10%)

Treatment:

• Wears off after 25,000 ticks (6.94 mins)

Cryptosleep Sickness

Occurs after having been in a ship cryptosleep casket or a cryptosleep casket for any amount of time. The colonists at the start of the game have a chance of starting with cryptosleep sickness, as they were in cryptosleep before crashing on the planet.

General Symptoms:

• Vomiting
• Impaired consciousness (max 70%)
• Impaired manipulation (max 60%)

Treatment:

• Wears off after 10,000 ticks (2.78 mins)

Euthanasia

Usually used to put a colonist out of their misery, quietly.

Notes:

• Total loss of consciousness
• Doesn't heal/get better

Food Poisoning

Occurs after having eaten a meal prepared by a poorly skilled cook.

General Symptoms:

• Vomiting
• Impaired consciousness (max 50%)

Treatment:

• Wears off after 30,000 ticks (8.33 mins)

Shut Down

This happens to mechanical beings, similar to euthanasia.

Notes:

• Total loss of consciousness
• Doesn't heal/get better

Toxic Buildup

Occurs with exposure to toxic fallout. A colonist under a roof is protected from exposure. Prolonged exposure gradually increases the buildup level. Once a colonist returns to a roofed area their buildup severity will gradually decrease. The buildup severity occurs in stages. The later stages cause permanent dementia; it does not wear off even after toxic buildup subsides.

• Initial - begins at 4% severity.
  • Symptoms:
    • Impaired consciousness (reduced by 5%)

• Minor - begins at 20% severity.
  • Symptoms:
    • Impaired consciousness (reduced by 10%)

• Moderate - begins at 40% severity.
  • Symptoms:
    • Impaired consciousness (reduced by 15%)
    • Vomiting
    • Dementia (permanent)

• Serious - begins at 60% severity.
  • Symptoms:
    • Impaired consciousness (reduced by 25%)
    • Vomiting
    • Dementia (permanent)

• Extreme - begins at 80% severity.
  At this stage the victim will fall unconscious and need rescue.
  • Symptoms:
    • Unconsciousness (max 10%)
    • Vomiting
    • Dementia (permanent)

• Death - occurs at 100% severity.

Unique Diseases

Unique Diseases can both cause positive or negative effects on the victim.