Haha, I agree with Joel. This is definitely going to suck. I truly do love it.
Would there be any other plague-like symptoms that would mark those as being taken with the magical side effects? Like exaggerated paleness, or blotches, something like that?
Also, would they somehow all come in contact with someone/some object that then would contaminate them, and only have the appearance of being able to spread? Or will it be spreadable from person to person like a traditional plague?