Ugh.... for fuck sake... this chapter's retardation levels are off the scale.
Firstly, calling a disease an "epidemic" is based on the extent to which a disease has already spread. If the disease is still confined to the latrine pits then it obviously isn't an epidemic.
Also being an "epidemic" doesn't have anything to do with how dangerous it is to be infected with it... case in point the PANdemic we're still putting up with has a relatively low mortality rate.
And what the fuck is with it being called a virus and apparently existing solely within the pits... not even the toilets that lead to them. That is bullshit. Even if a virus can remain without a host in the outside world for a certain period of time, viruses can't thrive without such hosts. If it was a paramecium, fungus, even bacteria... that would probably be believable.... but they went for basically the only thing that probably could NOT exist there.
This hurts to read.