Frozen Virus

For information on the Beta of this disease see Cure Mode § Frozen Virus

General Information

Strategy Guides Main Game | Cure Mode

"A giant virus, frozen deep in the Siberian permafrost, has thawed and infected an unknown victim. Dormant for over 30,000 years, it was last active at a time when mammoths and Neanderthals roamed the world. It's ancient genetic structure pre-dates homo sapiens but it's DNA has been severely degraded. Does it have what it takes to send humanity back to the stone age?" — Plague Inc., Frozen Virus introduction paragraph.

The Frozen Virus scenario was introduced in Mutation 1.8 as a Scenario. It was later introduced to the PC as a beta build for Evolution 7 on May 20, 2014, along with the rest of the missing Mega Mutation 8 scenarios. It possesses the ability to invoke forced evolution in its hosts, causing them to "regress" to a more primitive state.

Its default name is Pithovirus in-game, after its eponymous real-life counterpart.

Traits

The plague starts with Amoeba 1, Mandibular Strain, Drooling, Cold Resistance 1, Cold Resistance 2, and Cold Resistance 3 already evolved. It automatically starts in Russia (Siberia).

Transmissions

• Amoeba 1 - Amoeba susceptible to viral infection and spreads primarily through freshwater and saltwater. Increases infectivity (You automatically start with it).
• Amoeba 2 - Virus manipulates amoebal DNA, allowing host amoeba to thrive in warm body parts of animals. Increases infectivity. (Unlocks all other types of transmissions)
• Amoeba 3 - DNA reshuffled to allow host amoeba to survive and spread in animal faces, increasing infectivity in poor, rural countries.
• Bird 1 - Birds become susceptible to infection. Avian carriers increase infectivity, land transmission and mutation.
• Bird 2 - Avian brain tissue compromised causing birds to attack other species. Increases mutation, infectivity, and land based transmission.
• Rodent 1 - Common flea susceptible to infection. Increase infectivity, especially in urban regions and mutation.
• Rodent 2 - Rodents directly susceptible to infection. Increase infectivity, especially in urban regions and mutation.
• Livestock 1 - Livestock susceptible to infection. Increase infectivity, especially in rural regions and mutation.
• Livestock 2 - Wildlife susceptible to infection. Increase infectivity, especially in rural regions and mutation.
• Insect 1 - Insects susceptible to infection. Carrier insects increase infectivity, especially in hot climates and chance of mutation.
• Insect 2 - Increases rate of transfer between insects. Increase infectivity, especially in hot climates and mutation.
• Water 1 - Pathogen can survive outside the body in fresh, warm water. Increase infectivity, especially in humid environments and ship transmission.
• Water 2 - Pathogen able to survive in chemically treated water. Increase infectivity, especially in humid environments and ship transmission.

Symptoms

Tier 1

• Mandibular Strain - Moderate pain in mastication muscles, especially when eating, and periodical jaw clicking (can't be devolved, you automatically start with it).
• Drooling - Occasional intemperate drooling when sleeping or eating. Increases infectivity slightly (can't be devolved, you automatically start with it).
• Anaemia - Deficiency in the levels of heme contained in the hemoglobin which can lead to hypoxia in the organs.
• Cysts - Painful lumps containing pockets of the pathogen. Slight chance of bursting which can spread disease.

Tier 2

• Edentulism - Severe gum infection causes teeth to fall out.
• Memory Loss - Recent memories become nebulous in patients, replaced with vague historical recollections. Slows cure progress.
• Jaundice - Accelerated viral reproduction in the liver results in bilirubin build-up, causing yellowing of skin, eyes and mucus membrane. Increases infectivity.
• Skin Lesions - Breakdown in the epidermis causes large open wounds which significantly increase infectivity.

Tier 3

• Carnivorous Denticulation - Hormone changes trigger growth of carnivorous teeth and consumption of raw meat. Poor dental hygiene increases infectivity.
• Immaturity - Reduction in hormone levels causes immature and antisocial behavior, reducing cure research. Lower levels of hygiene cause infection.
• Malignant Ascites - Accumulation of fluid in abdominal cavity due to severe cirrhosis. Can be lethal.
• Abscesses - Pockets of infected flesh are painful and act as breeding grounds for the pathogen, increasing infection rates when burst.

Tier 4

• Bone Dysplasia - Relentless bone growth with high mineral density results in severe musculoskeletal stress; lethal in many cases. Broken skin increases infection. (can't be devolved)
• Aphasia - Progressive loss of brain cells damages parts of brain responsible for language and understanding. Makes cure development harder. (can't be devolved)
• Hepatic Failure - Chronic replacement of normal liver cells with scar tissue causes liver to fail, resulting in rapid death.
• Systemic Infection - Pathogen affects multiple organs and tissue types, causing body-wide infections that spread fast and can be fatal.
• Tumours - Pathogen disrupts cell growth pathways, causing uncontrolled, eventually fatal tumour growth.

Tier 5

• Cranial Elephantitis - Increased bone growth places pressure on the brain. Trauma makes cure development significantly harder and can be lethal.
• Aggression - Confusion and immaturity results in lethal primal aggression towards others. Cure progress significantly slowed.

Tier 6

• Hemorrhagic Shock - Failure of the heart to pump effectively causes oxygen deprivation, loss of consciousness and death.
• Neanderthal Regression - DNA recombination destroys logical and emotional brain function, leading to complete regression to Neanderthal state (can't be devolved).

Location of Each Symptom

Abilities

DNA Repair

30.000 years of dormancy in Russian permafrost has critically corrupted the virus in spite of its extreme resistance to cold climates.

These traits unlock additional traits when evolved. They can only be evolved in order and can't be devolved.

DNA Repair 1	Initial repair of low-level protein strands damaged during dormancy. Restore ancient symptoms and ability to stabilize in warmer environments.
DNA Repair 2	Partial repair of low-level protein strands damaged during dormancy. Restore ancient symptoms and ability to resist basic immune responses.
DNA Repair 3	Full repair of low-level protein strands damaged during dormancy. Restore ancient symptoms and ability to withstand higher temperatures.
DNA Repair 4	Initial repair of high-level protein strands damaged during dormancy. Restore ancient symptoms and ability to resist advanced immune response.
DNA Repair 5	Partial repair of high-level protein strands damaged during dormancy. Restore ancient symptoms and ability to survive in hot environments.
Full DNA Repair	Viral DNA fully reconstructed, giving access to entire genetic code from Neanderthal era. Can now entirely reshape human temperament.

Cure/Drug Resistance Abilities

These abilities are identical to those featured in standard plagues.

Drug Resistance 1	Pathogen becomes resistant to class 1 and 2 antibiotics. Increase effectiveness in wealthy countries.
Drug Resistance 2	Pathogen develops resistance to class 3 and 4 antibiotics. Increase effectiveness in wealthy countries.
Genetic Hardening 1	Pathogen becomes harder to analyse in the lab. Decreases future research speed.
Genetic Hardening 2	The pathogen does not reproduce in lab conditions. Decreases future research speed.
Genetic ReShuffle 1	Pathogen DNA strands reassembled. More work needed to develop a cure.
Genetic ReShuffle 2	A new strain of the pathogen now exists, increasing the work needed to develop a cure.
Genetic ReShuffle 3	Multiple strains of the pathogen now exist, increasing the work needed to develop a cure.

Other Abilities

These abilities affect the plague's ability to spread in different environments.

Cold Resistance 1	Pathogen is naturally used to withstanding cold temperatures and climates. (Can't be devolved, you start with it)
Cold Resistance 2	Hardened virus capsid ensures pathogen survival in extremely cold environments. (Can't be devolved, you start with it)
Cold Resistance 3	30,000 years of surviving beneath layers of ice have completely solidified virus's lipid covering, ensuring survival at sub-zero temperatures. (Can't be devolved, you start with it)
Heat Resistance 1	Pathogen evolves to withstand hot temperatures and climates.
Heat Resistance 2	Pathogen evolves some resistance to high temperatures. Increased effectiveness in hot climates.
Heat Resistance 3	Pathogen avoids cellular breakdown in high temperatures. Increased effectiveness in hot climates.
Ice Resistance	Pathogen able to survive and spread in crystalline sea water when ice melts. Increases infectivity by sea, and is harder to detect.

Tips

• If the player wants all symptoms available, they should focus on the DNA repair trait first.
• Neanderthal Regression can be used to cripple cure efforts.
• Since the virus begins in Russia, players should plan out their strategy to reflect the sea traffic of Russia.
• The virus is already by nature highly resistant to cold climates, saving you significant amounts of DNA for other traits such as the Heat Resistance abilities it lacks.

Cure Mode

Abscesses

Unknown Pathogen

Fever

Internal Haemorrhaging

Immune Suppression

Cold Resistance

Rash

General Information

These paragraphs are an excerpt from the main article of Cure Mode

On June 30, 2022, the Frozen Virus beta was launched for mobile devices, then released for PC on October 20, 2022. This disease presents certain special characteristics such as the fact that it can only appear in countries with cold climate such as Peru, Canada, Greenland in addition to the nations in Northern and Eastern Europe.

The player can close airports at any time by default. Although, DNA Analysis 1 is needed to obtain quarantine actions to close seaports and land borders, as well as to declare quarantine on a continent. There are special operations that allow the number of field operatives to be expanded, such as Regional Collaboration, Expanded Jurisdiction and Global Operations. In addition, DNA Analysis operations can unlock more operations, quarantines and responses. If the player uses all the special Field Operative upgrades they can obtain the Support Bubble achievement.

There is a special origin story involving a permafrost mining site and the DrillZero company. The player can obtain two achievements related to this origin story, in which "Snow Way" is to try to cover up the mining site and "Ice Find" is to study the mining site.

These events usually happen in the northernmost region of Europe specifically in the countries of Russia, Finland, Norway and Sweden, for these events should not block any port, airport or land border in these countries in addition to that the player can't send Field Operatives. In the news bar should appear 3 headlines about mining on the site. The headlines that appear are respectively the one in which permafrost mining can cause the release of pathogens according to experts, the next one is about the expansion of permafrost mining in a certain country and then started mining processes in the country.

In order to obtain the Ice Find achievement, the player has to wait for the 3 news headlines for the event to be triggered, only when this happens a Field Operative must be sent to close the mining site, then use the Field Research and Outbreak Intelligence Unit operations, after that a pop-up will appear about this and you will obtain the achievement. The difference between the Ice Find achievement and Snow Way is that the player must use Censorship and Fake News to cover up the DrillZero mining site.

• Some Responses and Operations require DNA Analysis 1 & 3 in order to be activated.
  • DNA Analysis 1: Self-Isolation, PPE Package 1, Staff Expansion, Critical Care Management, Ventilators, Contact Tracing 1 & 2; Testing Capacity 1.
  • DNA Analysis 2: New Infrastructure, Steroid Medication, PPE Package 2, Social Distancing, Border Monitoring, Airport Screening, Port Screening, Land Border Screening
  • DNA Analysis 3: Triage Protocols, Surge Protocols, Interferon Treatment, Convalescent Plasma, Monoclonal Antibody Treatment, Improve Supply Chains, Local Lockdowns, Contact Tracing 3, Testing Capacity 3.

References

Scenarios in Plague Inc.
Diseases	Black Death Frozen Virus Mad Cow Disease Nipah Virus Smallpox Swine Flu
World Changes	Created Equal Flight Club Ice Age Shut Down Everything Global Warming Mirror Earth Pirate Plague Sovereign Default Golden Age Volcanic Ash Who Cares Where Is Everyone?
Other	Xenophobia Santa's Little Helper Fake News Science Denial Teleportation Ultimate Board Games Unknown Origin Artificial Organs
Removed	AIDS