---
title: Casualties Unknown Infection and Radiation Survival Guide
description: How infections start, how to clean and disinfect, how radiation builds up and how to treat it.
url: https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/infection-and-radiation/
---

Health

# Casualties Unknown infection and radiation guide

_[Image: A character on a brick ledge in a green glowing radioactive cave, saying I want to eat]_

_A green radioactive layer. Radiation builds up with exposure and close contact. Official Steam screenshot, © Orsoniks / Oro Interactive._

**Short answer:** infections in Casualties Unknown start in wounds with low skin health and spread faster when you are dirty. Keep cleaning, and apply a disinfectant such as glow fruit or a sterilized dressing to the infected limb. Radiation builds up from toxirock, spent fuel and the rising radiation line, and anti-rad treats it. confirmed

An infection is one of the slowest ways to die, which is why people ignore it. One beginner guide warns that a rampant infection will be a run-ender. confirmed

## How do you get an infection in Casualties Unknown?

Infections usually begin when cuts or other injuries damage a limb’s **skin health**, shown as a shield icon at the bottom left of the panel. confirmed Two things make them worse.

- **Dirt.** A dirty body makes infections more likely and speeds them up. confirmed

- **Sleeping on a weak limb.** Going to sleep with low skin health can infect wounds, instead of healing them. confirmed

Infections have been visible even when unchipped since 6.0, so you will still see them if you play with numbers hidden. confirmed

## How do you treat an infection?

Apply disinfectant by dragging it onto the infected body part in the health panel. It reverses the infection until it is gone, as long as you keep applying it. confirmed

| Treatment | Notes | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Glow fruit | Easy early option, but it damages the limb’s skin health | confirmed |
| Sterilized dressing | Lasts a long time; a good early investment | confirmed |
| Antiseptic | Stronger, harder to craft | confirmed |
| Antiseptic mush | Crafted; buffed in 7.0, can be put in medkits | confirmed |
| Antibiotics | Medicine from loot and traders | confirmed |

The glow fruit downside matters. It hurts the skin health that protects you from infection in the first place, so overusing it can make things worse. confirmed One popular guide’s advice is to make **sterilized dressings** instead: 400 ml of soap and one regular dressing make one, and even a small amount disinfects a limb for a long while. confirmed

Soap uses meat, the ingredients for a campfire, chem fuel and water. confirmed

## How do you stay clean in Casualties Unknown?

Wash by submerging yourself in water. In shallow water, hold X to ragdoll yourself and keep moving until the dirt stops coming off. confirmed Oil, on the other hand, makes you instantly dirty, so avoid it. confirmed You can also wipe yourself with the rag item, added in 6.0. confirmed

Bathing costs time and can leave you cold and wet, so do it when you are warm and safe. See [food, water and sleep](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/food-water-and-sleep/) for how temperature works.

## What is sepsis?

Sepsis is the worst stage of a spreading infection. Recordings show players reacting to it urgently, because at that point a run can end quickly. confirmed Patch 6.1 reduced how much it affects blood pressure. confirmed

If an infection has spread beyond what your supplies can handle, removing the limb may be the only way to stop it. A recording shows a player preparing to cut off a foot that is “getting worse and worse by the second”. confirmed The [limb guide](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/limb-damage/) covers amputation.

## How does radiation work in Casualties Unknown?

Radiation builds up from exposure. The panel shows it as a value in Gy, and the [official health panel screenshot](https://store.steampowered.com/app/4576490/) displays 0.0 Gy under a radiation symbol. confirmed Main sources:

| Source | How it works | Status |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Toxirock | Builds up on direct contact | confirmed |
| Spent fuel barrels | Builds up with proximity; barrels are almost indestructible | confirmed |
| Radiation line | Rising band that punishes staying too long | confirmed |
| Ionized layer modifier | Nuclear waste dumped through the layer | confirmed |
| Radioactive water | Reported by players; avoid drinking it | reported |

The wasteland, [layer 4](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/layers/all-layers/), is built around this. Keep your distance from barrels and dig around them rather than through. confirmed

## How do you treat radiation in Casualties Unknown?

**Anti-rad** is the standard treatment, and an Ionized layer now spawns some near the waste. confirmed Do not overuse it: since 6.0 you can overdose on anti-rad, with a moodle added in 6.1 that shows when you are overdosing. confirmed

A craftable geiger counter, added in 7.0, tells you what is around you before you walk into it. confirmed A new visual for severe radiation sickness arrived in 6.0, so sudden visual changes on a radioactive layer are worth taking seriously. confirmed

## What is toxicosis and sickness?

Sickness is a separate bar from infection. It comes from bad food and drink. As long as the moodle stays at “queasy”, around 25%, you will be fine, which is why people eat rough food when they have to. confirmed Going further makes you vomit. Vomiting blood slows you down less than it did before 7.0. confirmed

## What should you carry for infection and radiation?

Sterilized dressings, antiseptic if you can make it, and at least one dose of anti-rad before layer 4. Keep your [mood](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/survival/mood-and-moodles/) high too, because hard runs tend to fail when you are already low and something new goes wrong.

## Sources
Last checked 9 November 2026. Marks: confirmed = official notes, in-game text or a recording of the game; reported = two or more players; unverified = one source.

- [Beginners Guide: Injury and Treatment by Cain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc8MFqX1gzE&t=247s) · infection basics

- [30 Things Everyone Should Know by BluePawClaw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVF7rFHGwpY&t=245s) · skin health, glowfruit

- [Tricks I Wish I Knew Sooner by BluePawClaw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLuLBHlRjIQ&t=206s) · sterilized dressings

- [In-Depth Guide: Traps and Hazards by Cameron Kane](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkH9emOCeNM&t=764s) · toxirock, spent fuel

- [v6.0 Patch Notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1830163047266090)

- [6.1 Demo Patch Notes, Steam](https://steamstore-a.akamaihd.net/news/externalpost/steam_community_announcements/1830797770233957)

## More in Health

- [Limb damage How to fix shrapnel, dislocations and fractures, when to amputate and how prosthetics work.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/limb-damage/)

- [Bleeding and blood How to bandage, which wound comes first, and how to treat internal bleeding and hemothorax.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/bleeding-and-blood/)

- [Heart and stroke What causes strokes, fibrillation and cardiac arrest, and what actually treats them.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/heart-and-stroke/)

- [Brain damage What causes brain damage, what the symptoms mean and how to recover from it.](https://casualtieswiki.wiki/health/brain-damage/)