Black Sap Zombification

Black Sap Zombification is a form of zombification induced by contact with Black Sap.

Transmission & Vectors

This form of zombification is transmitted by two methods: 1) Contact with non crystalized black sap 2) Exposure to affected flesh or fluid, such as a bite, open wound, or ingestion

Causes

Zombification caused by the sap is due to the instability of the elemental composition of the sap. On contact, it attempts to correct itself by pulling at the elemental forces binding the body together. The destabilization remains within the body. Unlike the sap, the body contamination on a body does not absorb on physical contact. Instead, to spread, it requires entry into the body, such as eating an infected body or introduction to the blood stream. 
Ingesting the infected requires a large amount, enough to overwhelm the system as the corruption enters the blood stream. This is why actions such as kissing or CPR does not spread the infection.

Symptoms

Initial infection: Black tint to blood vessels near the infection point (If contracted from an infected source) Stage 1: Low Grade Fever, lethargy, generalized weakness of the body Stage 2: High grade fever, hallucinations Stage 3: Lowering body temperature, coma, soul vacates the body  Stage 4: Death and reanimation
Infection from a secondary source can take days to months to manifest.
Contact from the sap directly has a different effect upon the victim and depending upon the amount of sap and where it touched, the stages progress in minuts to hours. Infection: Black tint spreads from contact point through the whole body
Stage 1: Pain that grows intolerable Stage 2: Collapse and convulsions Stage 3: Death, soul vacates body Stage 4: reanimation

Treatment

There is no treatment available for this. The only solution is to burn the source to prevent infection spreading.

Prognosis

Prognosis once contracted is always 100% fatal.

Hosts & Carriers

Animals carry and transmit the disease. For an unknown reason, earth, water, and plants are unaffected by it. Fire destroys it.
Contact with dead bodies does not facilitate corruption either, depending upon how long the creature was dead. Freshly dead exposed to the sap have been reanimated, but only within minutes of death, suggesting that the presence of a soul is required.
Corpses infected with it remain animated until all flesh has decayed or burned.
Insects avoid the infected, and those not smart enough to do so die and do not reanimate, eliminating them as a vector of transmission.

Prevention

The best way to prevent infection is to avoid infected sources. Thoroughly inspect all food sources and avoid the black sap.

Epidemiology

The condition spreads when the source is not addressed, generally through ignorance of the issue. An epidemic or outbreak is most likely when the afflicted are not disposed of immediately upon showing symptoms and the trees generating sap not burned.

History

There are no recorded incidents in human history, however, dwarven history holds obscure records of one incident generated when Fir'Tan sacrificed the world tree network to become a lich. The infection spread among dragon kind and necessitated the civilization to be wiped out.

Cultural Reception

Dragons feared the condition after being harassed for years by the monsters generated. They were so afraid that any dragons that developed black scales were hunted and killed, even if uninfected.

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Extremely Rare