Vampyre Conversion

==Vampyre Conversion==
Conversion to Vampyrism is a process that begins once the Vampyre Virus (most commonly the Stockholm Strain) enters the bloodstream of a human host. This can take place in a variety of ways, as the virus can be transmitted via saliva-blood contact, blood-blood contact, mucosa-blood contact, and has been observed to pass in seminal fluid during intercourse.
Layman's definition: Put simply, rather than infecting common host cells in a human being (such as muscle tissue or organ cells), the Vampyre Virus breaks down hemoglobin (red blood cells) and myoglobin and serum albumin (proteins) to replicate and spread while using the DNA from those blood cells to adapt itself to the host. The virus only binds to specified cells once a threshold of infection has been reached.
Technical breakdown: While most viruses have a cytopathic effect on its host cells - meaning they cause the death of the cell once the viron replicates or consumes enough energy from the host cell - the Vampyre Viral strains have a separate effect known as hemolysis, or the destruction of blood cells, as the initial conversion takes place. While most viruses that utilize reverse transcriptase (such as HIV) use RNA to create and assemble new DNA strands, the Vampyre Virus is different in using a unique form of hemolysis to break down nutrient components from blood cells (mainly erythrocytes) in order to provide nourishment, which results in the host DNA being released and the viral RNA's reverse transcriptase process to take place in the host. Due to the size of the virions and the addition of satellite particles, very little waste product is produced from virally-induced hemolysis. According to Alice's testing, the virus has a 97% efficiency rate with hemolytic metabolism, leaving only 3% of the original host cell as waste product to be excreted from the body. This is fortunate, as a lower efficiency would lead to kidney or liver failure, or other significant side effects.
The entire conversion process makes the virus nearly "invisible" to the immune system, as it adopts enough of the host's DNA through transcription to mask itself from the innate immunity of the body's white blood cells.This hemolysis and subsequent shortage of blood cells within the body is the reason that there is typically an intense "first craving" upon conversion, which has historically led to attacks and the consumption of the blood of anyone nearby. This biological drive would mirror life-threatening hunger or thirst, and would drive even the most composed fledgling Vampyres into a state of frenzy to satisfy the nutritional demands of the virus.