Item #: SCP-255
Object Class: Keter
Special Containment Procedures: Tissue samples and specimens related to SCP-255 are contained at Bio Site-16, a purpose-built containment and research facility designed to Priority Beta contagious phenomenon specifications. Bio Site-16 is subject to a remote location personnel rotation waiver in addition to standard contagious phenomenon preventive quarantine periods. Bio Site-16 is located in the Vaitupu Atoll of Tuvalu on an island owned by Ragnarik Ecological Modeling Inc., a Foundation front organization.
Persons and animals determined to be infected with SCP-255 are to be secured and transported to a designated temporary holding facility prior to transfer to Bio Site-16. In cases where capture of an SCP-255 carrier is exceedingly difficult or impossible, lethal force is authorized.
The Office of Celestial Anomalies is to continually track the orbit of 3214 Hybris, maintain a schedule of upcoming near-Earth flybys, and alert the Research Director if any changes in observed orbit occur. The next scheduled flyby of 3214 Hybris is 11 November 2023, when it is predicted to pass within 950,000 km of Earth.
Description: SCP-255 is an anomalous infectious phenomenon of extraterrestrial origin, manifesting in most living subjects as a neurological disorder with varying symptoms. Eligible carriers of SCP-255 have thus far been observed to be organisms possessing a cerebral cortex with approximately ≥5.4 billion neurons. Experimentation has determined that species capable of contracting SCP-255 include humans, chimpanzees, African elephants, bottlenose dolphins, false killer whales, and others.
In non-human carriers SCP-255 causes, through unknown means, degeneration of motor neurons and nerve cells. The rate of degeneration and severity of related symptoms is inversely related to the number of neurons the subject possesses in its cerebral cortex, with less neurologically-developed organisms displaying the most debilitating effects.
The effects of SCP-255 on humans, however, is markedly more complex. While degradation of brain cells and the nervous system has been noted on a limited basis in humans, a range of more unusual symptoms occurs in these subjects. See SCP-255 Research Log for more details.
Individuals infected by SCP-255 can be reliably diagnosed through EEG observation and confirmation of verified markers in measurements of neurological activity. See Appendix B for further documentation.
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Signature SCP-255 EEG pattern, observable thirteen seconds after commencement of observation protocol
Outbreaks of SCP-255 coincide with close flybys of 3214 Hybris, a relationship that was theorized using advanced statistical models following the second outbreak in 1965, and confirmed during the asteroid's 1987 close approach. Observations of 3214 Hybris have determined it to be an approximately 110 meter C-type asteroid with no anomalous properties observed at this time. The nature of the orbit of 3214 Hybris brings it into close approaches with Earth once every 11 years.
