And yet you never once said they wouldn't be, let that assumption run on until now. And why wouldn't people assume they would be? You called it a "nasty alien virus", it hardly brings fuzzy feelings to mind, does it? The very least somone is going to conjure up next to the word "virus" is the flu and the worst, well, depends on their imagination I guess, considering you specified the alien bit, kinda makes the mind wander.
Thing is, neither is my bite. Not lethal at all. May turn up a Kanima instead of a werewolf, but they'd live.