Lydia turned vampire and I had to kill her...

[johnsonbl]

Hi all. Quickly, Skyrim is my first Elder Scrolls game and I'm only a level 28. Been playing about a month. Total noob and not ashamed to admit it.

I've had Lydia as my follower since early on and just this morning stumbled across Haemer's Shame, which many of you know is full of vampires. Anyway, as Lydia and I are fighting a few of them, she gets knocked down a time or two...when she gets up she starts coming after me using the same red magic that the vampires were using and she appears as an "enemy" on the directional bar.

At first I thought that maybe this was just part of this particular quest that any follower would turn vampire and you'd have to kill them but then I reconsidered. I did save before taking on the vampires so I could reload and bring her back...but two questions...

Is it possible for a follower to turn vampire? I can't find much solid info on this. If yes, is there a way to "cure" them so that they won't?
Should I just find another follower?

Thanks!

[Gideon Dragontongue]

I've never heard of a follower turning vampire. Either way, she should have taken longer to become one (several days). It's possible she died and was resurrected by one of the vampires you were fighting.

[Evil-i]

Well, the Wiki Followers page states "Followers are not affected by diseases." Whether this statement is meant to cover all diseases, including Vampirism, or just the usual Adventurer's Drip you get from wild animals isn't clear.

I found an Amulet that has 100% Disease Protection. If you have one, and if Followers are susceptible to Vampirism, try equipping your Follower with it and see what happens.

[Derp53]

neever seen that happen before, i cleared movarth's lair with Brelyna maryon and she took a beating but she didn't turn vamp on me but to be safe i had her use a shrine in solitude

[ThePainkiller88]

I was about to agree with Gideon about the dying then being resurrected thing...but that doesn't explain her using draining magic. Must have been a glitch. Those happen now and again in these games.

[roleplayer242426]

Being clawed by vampires don't infect you anyways, the Vampiric Drain spell potentially does. Assuming that followers are vonerable to Vampirism which I find extremely unlikely (although I hope I'm wrong), it would take a lot longer for it to take effect.

[Unionhack]

I think having a companion turn into a vampire would be a neat twist in the game, but I haven't seen it happen before.
Must've been a glitch. And a message from Akatosh, telling you to get a less [explicative]y follower. c: