A 143 side-note
And this is what makes the ever popular Giant Rat 1st level encounters so infuriating. You don't have the resources to get the disease removed, you can almost guarantee at least one party member will fail a Fort save, and the only way to beat the disease is sit around for days on end making Fort save and/or Heal checks.
I can't remember the last character I have had from first level that didn't fight giant rats at least once. They seem to be hard wired into low-level adventures!
[/RANT]