Infection

Description
 may be contracted if you are hit by a Zombie or a hostile Animal. It has four stages of progression and will kill the infected player if it progresses to the fourth stage. Getting hit by zombies while infected will increase the infection level. The lower a players health the greater the chance a zombie attack has of inflicting a debuff such as.

You can treat with the use of Antibiotics, Herbal Antibiotics, or Honey. A treated infection does not cause as much Stamina loss and will slowly decrease the infection magnitude by an amount based on the strength of the medicine used. Antibiotics reduce infection by 25%, Herbal Antibiotics by 10%, and Honey by 5%. At lower levels of infection it is recommended to use the least powerful medicine available that will cure the.

Vitamins prevent new cases of for the duration of their buff, but will not cure or reduce any existing infections.

Stage 1 - Untreated
"You have a mild infection. It will get worse until treated by antibiotics. Getting hit by zombies or animals will make an infection worse."


 * No changes to Health or Stamina at this stage.
 * Duration 1 hour in real time, or up to 14% of the gauge.

Stage 1 - Treated
"You have a treated mild infection. Continue medication until infection is cleared up."


 * No changes to Health or Stamina at this stage.
 * Lasts until medicine wears off or magnitude reaches 0% and is cured.

Stage 2 - Untreated
"You have a serious infection. If left untreated it could lead to severe infection which can cause death. Take antibiotics as soon as possible."


 * -25% Stamina regeneration.
 * Duration 3 hours in real time, or up to 57% of the gauge.

Stage 2 - Treated
"You have a treated serious infection. Continue medication and keep an eye on the wound."


 * -12.5% Stamina regeneration.
 * Lasts until medicine wears off or the drops to Stage 1 Treated Infection.

Stage 3 - Untreated
"You have a life threatening severe infection. Take antibiotics immediately."


 * -35% Stamina regeneration.
 * -1 to all attributes.
 * Duration 3 hours in real time, or up to 100% of the gauge.

Stage 3 - Treated
"You have a treated life threatening severe infection. Continue Medication and avoid contact with infectious substances."


 * -17% Stamina regeneration.
 * -1 to all attributes.
 * Lasts until medicine wears off or the drops to Stage 2 Treated Infection.

Stage 4
"You have died from an infection."


 * Instant death.

Treatment
It is possible to treat by using various infection-curing medicines. The infection is slowly cured by a Treated Infection buff, given by these items:
 * Jar of Honey will cure 5% of.
 * Herbal Antibiotics will cure 10% of.
 * Antibiotics will cure 25% of.

When a player with fully treats it to 0% the  debuff will be removed.

Prevention
The best way to prevent infection is to not get hit. Otherwise, Vitamins cannot cure existing, but do prevent new cases in uninfected players while their buff is in effect.

has a chance of being applied when a character suffers a Critical Hit. Critical Hits are more common the lower a character's health, or if the character is Stunned. Painkillers prevent stun and restore health.

Investing one point into The Brawler perk will give you the ability to prevent enemies from infecting anyone. Punching an enemy in the head with bare fists or will inflict a debuff that permanently prevents them from inflicting infection with melee attacks. This does protect players other than the one who punched the enemy. Range attacks such as an Infected Police Officer's vomit can still carry a chance of infection.