SCP-2607

3/2607 LEVEL 3/2607 CLASSIFIED Item #: SCP-2607 Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: The Foundation has made large anonymous donations to sexually transmitted disease awareness and prevention programs in a number of countries with documented SCP-2607 outbreaks; the patents to the antiviral drugs acyclovir and valacyclovir have been purchased by Foundation front companies, and these drugs have been substantially reduced in price to aid in SCP-2607 containment efforts. Efforts have been made in several countries to ban or regulate the practice of "phone sex", especially in a high-volume commercialized form; these efforts have largely been unsuccessful, and in some cases merely caused these "phone sex" telephone lines to move their operations to jurisdictions which are more difficult for the Foundation to monitor.

Individuals identified as carriers of any strain of SCP-2607 are to be detained and questioned about their sexual history to identify other possible carriers, then treated with a targeted antiviral drug developed as part of the SCP-2607 containment initiative. Medical records of herpes simplex cases are to be regularly cross-referenced with employees and habitual users of "phone sex" telephone lines, and with users of sexual role-playing websites; any pattern indicative of a possible SCP-2607 outbreak is to be investigated as soon as possible.

Samples of SCP-2607-1 and -2 are stored in Bio Site-66's cryogenic storage facility; research proposals involving exposure of D-Class personnel to SCP-2607 must be approved by Site-66's Ethics Committee liaison, and all experimental subjects must be treated with the targeted SCP-2607 antiviral at the conclusion of the experiment.

Description: SCP-2607 is the collective designation for two strains of the herpes simplex virus with similar anomalous means of transmission, designated SCP-2607-1 and -2. Both strains of SCP-2607 cause similar symptoms to HSV-2, the herpes simplex strain which causes most cases of genital herpes; blisters appear on the genitalia within approximately 7 days of initial exposure, and heal over the next several weeks. SCP-2607 strains can be transmitted via sexual contact, as with non-anomalous varieties of herpes simplex, but each can also be transmitted by certain non-physical sexual activities.

SCP-2607-1's primary anomalous mode of transmission is through "phone sex"—sexual role-playing or descriptions of hypothetical sexual activity transmitted via telephone. For SCP-2607-1 to be transmitted, the infected and uninfected participants must describe a scenario in which, were the sexual activity occurring physically, it would be possible to transmit herpes simplex; descriptions of proper condom use reduce transmission rate by approximately 30%. Research has shown that SCP-2607-1 can also be transmitted via in-person sexual role-playing (i.e. "phone sex" without the telephone); in-person sexual role-playing reduces the transmission rate by approximately 50%. SCP-2607-1 cannot be transmitted through recorded speech or through text-based erotic role-playing; the infected and uninfected participants must share a direct audio connection.

SCP-2607-2's primary anomalous mode of transmission is through online erotic role-playing. Similarly to SCP-2607-1, both the infected and uninfected participants must describe a scenario which could lead to transmission of non-anomalous herpes simplex. Unlike SCP-2607-1, the responses need not be immediate; successful transmission has been observed with a lag between successive messages of as long as three weeks. SCP-2607-2 can also be transmitted via SMS-based erotic role-playing ("sexting") and via telephone, although the rate of transmission is reduced by approximately 75%. Erotic role-playing not mediated by some electronic medium (in-person, or via written or printed descriptions) cannot transmit SCP-2607-2.

SCP-2607-1 was first identified by the Foundation in 1983, when a number of individuals reporting herpes simplex infections without prior sexual activity were found to have called the same "phone sex" line; records from the "phone sex" line indicated that each of these individuals had engaged in sexual role-playing with the same operator, Ms. Ella Pickering, then a student at the University of Central Lancashire. Ms. Pickering was detained and interviewed; she claims to have only had a single sexual partner, a fellow student named "Simeon Plesko" whom she met at a party. Ms. Pickering only engaged in sexual intercourse with this individual once, and said that he "left [her] flat before [she] woke up and never called [her] back." University of Central Lancashire records contain no mention of a student by this name; Simeon Plesko has been classified as Person of Interest 2607-Α.

SCP-2607-2 was identified in 2005, when almost every active member of "Islands of Desire," a server of the MMORPG Neverwinter Nights devoted to erotic role-playing, sought treatment for herpes simplex. Approximately one week before the first users reported herpes simplex infections, the server had hosted a nautical group sex-themed event called "Orgies of the Sword Coast," coinciding with the release of the Neverwinter Nights expansion pack "Pirates of the Sword Coast;" an individual with the username "Sim_Plex" had been very active during this event. Attempts to trace this user via IP or payment information proved fruitless; investigation is still ongoing.