Canton Madness

&nbsp The Canton Madness (Chinese Viral Prefrontal Encephalopathy) is a viral disease that was first recorded in the infamous Canton Red Light Incident by occupying British soldiers in Canton, China, during the First Opium War.

History
The first recorded case of Canton Madness (CVPE) occured on March 30, 1841, in the Red Light District of Canton, China. The logs of Field Marshal Hugh Gough, commander of British Forces in the area, explicitly describe this first outbreak.

''"...Early in the evening of March thirtieth, I was alerted to a developing situation in one of Canton's establishments of less-than-repute... A Scottish Royal Marine reported a most gruesome scene at one of Canton's premier cathouses, a Japanese-owned establishment that my English mind cannot find a way to transcribe [later investigation would reveal the brothel to be the Aka Shinju Brothel]... He bore descriptions of the most horrifying gore and madness. He was found with bloodstains on his boots and the hems of his breeches... at his urgings an investigatory force was sent to the brothel, consisting of ten Marines and three local Cantonese observers.  They found his report to be, indeed, understating of the carnage we discovered... The brothel was in total ruin, by all accounts... blood soaking the floorboards, upturned furniture, broken decorations, and scenes of human gore the likes of which I shall not put to paper. We found three traumatized prostitutes barricading themselves behind one of the upstairs doors... at first we assumed it was they who had commited the acts of... evil, but at further investigation and questioning we found them to be innocent. The true perpetrator seems to have been a local man, described as pale and of thin hair... [the local man] reportedly broke into the brothel through the bolted back door, which we found to be loose on its hinges, and viciously attacked one of the Japanese proprietors, biting and gouging at the frail old woman with animal ferocity before being stabbed in the back of the head by one of the prostitutes. [The old woman] reportedly fell ill for a few hours before suddenly and violently turning on everyone around her, killing no less than seven people with her bare hands and teeth and injuring four others, who escaped into the city at large..."''