Vampirism

Vampirism is a disease that mainly targets the nervous system.

It has also been known traditionally as hematophagia, although that name is discouraged as it is considered inaccurate.

Creatures infected with it are known as "vampires" and "zombies" or, in the case of Ponies, "vamponies".

Symptoms
Symptoms may show up a few days or weeks after infection. The biggest early symptom is encephalitis, which may include fever, headaches and vomiting.

As the encephalitis worsens, new symptoms may develop such as paranoia, terror and paralysis. These then evolve into muscular tension, specially in the jaw and throat, and sometimes seizures and periods of unconsciousness.

Tension in the throat results in painful swallowing, which takes the form of saliva tending to accumulate in the mouth and cause drooling.

The infection particularly affects the frontal lobe of the brain, causing aphasia, mood swings, impulsive behavior and memory loss.

Muscular tension together with worsening psychological symptoms often results in aggression, mainly in the form of biting.

The disease is almost always deadly. Many patients die in physical confrontations or because of execution. Those who aren't killed usually end up dying from a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Transmission
Vampirism is mostly transmitted through bodily fluids.

Transmission often occurs during a physical confrontation, commonly by saliva to blood during biting or by blood to blood due to open wounds.

In popular culture
The periods of unconsciousness have lead to the widespread belief that the infected are revived corpses. The belief that they are nocturnal and weak to light is also common.

Among Equestrians, it's commonly believed that the infected feed on blood as the infected often bite and draw blood in others. Vampirism is often associated with Batponies in Equestria, although no links have been found between the two.

In Qilinia, the infected are known as geungsi and believed to hop around instead of walking, pulled by evil magic like a puppet instead of walking of their own volition. This is likely due to the erratic movement of patients who suffer muscular tension.

In history
See also Timeline.

Historically, Batponies have been blamed for vampirism outbreaks in Equestria. This has lead to pogroms and the diminishing of many Batpony diasporas.