Empty Child Syndrome

The "Empty Child" plague was a technological plague which spread around a part of London in 1941.

History
Chula nanogenes, who had never encountered Humans before, interacting with a dying human boy caught in the Blitz, created the so-called "Empty Child" with a gas mask for a face. The nanogenes also gave the child the standard abilities of Chula soldiers, specifically super-Human strength, telepathic abilities and the ability to communicate using other items. Unfortunately, the Empty Child still had a child-like mentality and escaped to search for its mother.

The Empty Child compulsively sought the company of others, searching for his mother, and in doing so contaminated them with the nanogenes. Those who were infected did likewise so that the nanogenes spread in a similar fashion to a virus.

All of the victims grew faces like gas masks and developed the same wounds as the original child, as well as the same compulsion. This plague was eventually stopped when the Empty Child was reunited with his mother and the nanogenes recognized the proper sequence for a Human in 1943 London. (DW: The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances)

Rose Tyler later described the victims as "gas-masked zombies" to Sarah Jane Smith when comparing things they have seen when travelling with the Doctor. (DW: School Reunion)