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Come up with a disease

Fetish Flu: This airborne disease seems like a mild case of the flu at first, thus the name. However, it alters the brain of the victim, both intensifying the sex drive and randomly altering their sexual orientation. And by random, I mean they will suddenly find themselves exclusively attracted to, say, trees or bicycles. This is both disastrous for existing relationships, and creates all sorts of odd behavior long term.
 
Politiplague: This disease in an artificial one, created to over the period of a few days to subtly rewire the brain to make the victim a fervent supporter of a particular political position or group.

This is complicated by the fact that it was created in a generic programmable form and sold to a multitude of different factions centuries ago. As a result it tends to make victims into fervent supporters of causes and organizations that no longer exist. Or in the case of strains of politiplague that have suffered genetic damage or were released by pranksters, causes and organizations that never existed.

Just to make dealing with it worse, politiplague was designed to be able to hibernate in spore form for an indefinite period in very hostile environments, so no matter how many times it is eradicated from the population it will unpredictably pop up decades later.
 
Samatrian Syndrome: This is a plague which, at first, seems benign or even helpful. It can infect you merely from breathing near its victim. However, it starts out relatively unnoticeable. For a few days, it merely enhances the sufferer's altruism. They feel compelled to help those in need, and often report actual physical pain if somehow restrained from doing so. Even if they were previously low-empathy or even outright sociopathic, they gain a strong concern for others needs, along with heightened ability to empathize and sympathize with others. However, within a week, the urge to help gets stronger. The victim is soon giving up most of their time to helping others, and donating as much to charity as they allowed. Within two weeks, they being giving all their worldly possessions to whoever they think may need them. By the time the disease reaches Terminal Stage, in about a month, they are unable to even eat or sleep, as they devote all their time to helping people and give any object they posse to others. Only one victim has survived past 34 days: Namely, one James Rauj, who was a Zen Buddhist before contracting the virus, and was recorded to, at the 34 day mark, say "Ah, I see now. I am nothing." and has been sitting cross-legged ever since, in a motionless state. EEG readings show activity in a part of the brain relating to religious experiences and though he hasn't eaten or drank anything in the three months since, his breathing , heartbeat, and brain activity, continue, for reason as of yet unknown.
 
Avernus said:
Politiplague: This disease in an artificial one, created to over the period of a few days to subtly rewire the brain to make the victim a fervent supporter of a particular political position or group.

This is complicated by the fact that it was created in a generic programmable form and sold to a multitude of different factions centuries ago. As a result it tends to make victims into fervent supporters of causes and organizations that no longer exist.
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I'll have you know that the Whig Party has the best shot for the White House in 2020, and I'll fight anyone who tries to tell me otherwise.

==

Mary's Lament

-A condition wherein bodily fluids (most notably sweat), become an infectious vector for the bacterial agent Mallonum Plangat.




-Once inside the body of a new host, Mallonum causes a spate of gastrointestinal symptoms, typically including diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, but always characterized by darkening of the veins in the hands and fingers, known colloquially as 'Mary's Fingers.'



-More severe cases can see extreme dehydration, gastrointestinal bleeding, and inflammation of the esophagus and sinuses, with fatal cases typically related to untreated dehydration or complications of other medical issues.

-The symptoms subside within 5-7 days, when Mallonum enters its infectious phase. Highly-infectious, the bacteria can be spread from all bodily fluids, though most infection cases are caused by skin-to-skin transmission via sweat. This stage typically lasts for 1-2 weeks, with full recovery seen in 97% of cases within 3 weeks.

-Mallonum is easily treated with a variety of anti-biotics, with rehydration and IVs used for more severe cases, though all instances are complicated by Mallonum's most notable symptom: approximately 80% of infected are estimated to develop a pronounced, persistent, state of denial of their own sickness.

Due to the ease with which the disease is spread during the infectious period, infected should severely limit any physical contact with others, with specific prohibitions on tasks like public food preparation or handling. Because of the state of denial Mallonum induces, infected are very prone to ignoring the prominent symptoms (Mary's Fingers), foregoing the necessary quarantines or sanitary precautions like breathing masks or gloves, or even refusing to be treated for the condition.

- Some infected have been seen to deliberately ignore even basic sanitary acts like hand-washing or covering the mouth and nose while sneezing out of insistence that 'nothing will happen, as they are not sick.'



-Once the infectious stages end, the episode of denial typically ends as well, and the hosts regain normal understanding of illness and sanitation. Though, if reinfected, sufferers can relapse into a more severe delusional state with each successive infection, sometimes leading to spirals of infection wherein delusional families infect and reinfect each other in rapid succession.

-In rare cases, the states of delusion and infectiousness persist even as symptoms subside, creating asymptomatic carriers in complete denial of their condition.
 
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