Re: Discussion: Taxonomy and Pathology of Halloween Monsters
I typically prefer to leave such things as mystical effects, be they curses or the results of spells, and not a 'disease' of any sort; I don't consider things like Resident Evil zombies to be 'zombies', per se. Zombies are undead, necromatic creations, not people infected with a disease that makes them cannibals. Such conditions are rarely, if ever, communicable.
Vampires kind of throw me off there, of course, but I typically let their 'contagion' be completely under the control of the vampire in question; they have to intentionally inflict their curse on you. I've considered the same thing with werewolves, with only the pack alpha having the ability to transmit the curse/'induct a new pack member'.