DayZ Sickness Chart — Every Disease, Symptom and Cure (2026)

DayZ kills you with its systems long before other players do, and disease is the biggest killer: cholera from dirty water, salmonella from raw meat, wound infections from dirty bandages, and kuru if you eat human flesh — each with its own symptom tell and its own cure. The good news is the whole system is learnable: this is the complete DayZ sickness chart with every disease, what causes it, the symptoms that warn you, and the exact medicine that fixes it — plus the blood chart (types, compatibility, transfusion rules) that belongs in the same emergency kit.

Official resources: DayZ Wiki: Diseases · DayZ Wiki: Blood · BisectHosting disease guide · TheGamer sickness guide · DayZ on Steam

The Full DayZ Sickness Chart

Per the DayZ Wiki diseases page, most sicknesses are "caused by ingesting contaminated food or water, or by exposure to the environment," and the treatment curve follows real-world logic — antibiotics for bacteria, charcoal for toxins, multivitamins for immunity support.

Reading the Symptoms: What Your Character Is Telling You

The game never pops up a "you have cholera" notification — you have to read the tells:

• Sneezing + shivering = cold (or flu if it escalates).
• Fever, forehead-wiping animation, blurred vision = infection stage (influenza/cholera).
• Vomiting after eating or drinking = cholera or salmonella; the when matters — vomit right after drinking = cholera, right after eating = salmonella or bad food.
• Pain noises + blurry vision + slow stamina = wound infection.
• Laughter + tremors = kuru. You ate people. There is no cure.
• Coughing and fading vision in a gassed area = toxic poisoning; leave the zone and use PO-X Antidote.

The Medicine Kit: What Each Item Actually Does

The DayZ Blood Chart: Types, Compatibility and Transfusion

DayZ models real-world blood biology. Every character is randomly assigned one of eight blood types at spawn, and it never transfers between characters:

Blood type distribution in DayZ: O+ 43%, A+ 23%, O- 10%, B+ 9%, A- 5%, B- 3%, AB+ 2%, AB- 2%.

Compatibility (recipient row → donor column):

O- is the universal donor; AB+ is the universal recipient. Both BisectHosting and Servers4Gamers publish this same matrix, and it matches the real-world rules.

Blood numbers that matter: every survivor starts at 5,000 blood (the max). Below 3,000 you take shock damage and can pass out; below 2,500 you die. Natural regeneration runs about 8–17 blood per minute depending on your food and water levels. An IV saline bag restores +500 over time; an IV blood bag restores 500 instantly.

How to Avoid Getting Sick in the First Place

Prevention beats every cure:

• Boil or purify all water from rivers, lakes and unknown containers — water purification tablets or boiling over a fire. Village water pumps are safe.
• Cook meat fully and wash your hands (interact with a water source) before eating or cooking — bloody hands cause salmonella.
• Disinfect your bandages before use, or craft rags from clean clothing; dirty bandages cause wound infection.
• Carry multivitamins and pop one early when you start sneezing — the immunity stat decides whether a cold becomes flu and flu becomes pneumonia.
• Stay warm and dry — being cold and wet is how the disease chain starts.
• Never eat human meat. Kuru is permanent and unmissable, and the community will not be impressed.

DayZ Sickness FAQ

How do you cure cholera in DayZ?

Tetracycline pills or multivitamin pills, taken repeatedly until symptoms clear. While sick, drink in tiny amounts to avoid the vomiting loop, and switch to boiled/purified water immediately — untreated water is what gave you cholera.

What is the rarest disease in DayZ?

Kuru is the one players fear most: it comes only from eating human meat, has no cure, and is permanent until death. In terms of spawn rarity, hemolytic reaction (from a wrong-type transfusion) is the one players accidentally inflict on themselves most.

How do you get rid of a cold in DayZ?

Take tetracycline or multivitamins, get warm (fire, dry clothes, shelter) and keep your food/water up. A cold that is left untreated escalates to influenza, which escalates to pneumonia — the deadly one that kills in roughly 24 minutes if ignored.

What blood type is the universal donor in DayZ?

O- is the universal donor (can give to everyone) and AB+ is the universal recipient (can receive from everyone). The most common type in DayZ is O+ at 43% of characters.

How much blood do you need to survive in DayZ?

You start at 5,000 (max) and regenerate slowly when fed and hydrated. Below ~3,000 you take shock damage and risk unconsciousness; below 2,500 you die. A blood bag IV restores 500 instantly; saline IV restores 500 gradually with no compatibility risk.

The Bottom Line

The DayZ sickness chart is a closed system — every disease has a cause, a symptom tell and a cure, and the whole loop runs on three medicine families (tetracycline, charcoal, multivitamins) plus clean bandages and boiled water. Master the chart above, never transfuse without a blood test, and disease stops being a mystery death and becomes a manageable stat.

Pair this with the crafting guide for the splint and rag recipes you will need, and the how-to-play guide if the survival loop is still new to you.

Related Guides

• DayZ Crafting Guide: Recipes, Fire & Splints
• How to Play DayZ: Beginner Survival Guide
• DayZ Weapons List: Every Gun, Damage & Tier
• DayZ Chernarus Map Guide: Spawns, Military & Loot Tiers
• DayZ Livonia Map Guide: Locations, Military & Survival Tips

Last Updated: August 13, 2026