Zombie Research Society
Previously we touched on one public health specialist’s belief that a disease similar to mad cow could be the start of a zombie pandemic (see: Expert Warns of Zombie Prions). Now a disturbing new strain of mad cow in humans, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), has proven to infect and kill younger people, cause much more gruesome symptoms, and be transmitted from person-to-person in new and deadly ways.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that vCJD is an invariably fatal brain disease, with an incubation period measured in years, and an unconventional transmissible agent. The new dangers of this strain are echoed by the US National Institute of health:
“It may be possible to transmit vCJD through blood and related blood products such as plasma. Some animal studies suggest that contaminated blood may transmit the disease. Furthermore, scientists have no way of determining whether fluids are infectious or not.”
The rapid evolution of the prion that causes variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease has alarming implications for the study of zombiism. If vCJD becomes easily transmitted from one human to another through casual and/or sexual contact, like HIV, it could spell certain death to massive segments of the global population. And with only minor tweaks in the strain’s composition, a zombie pandemic could be not far behind.
This “zombie apocalypse ” via cjd has already been predicted. This prediction does not contain any type of cannibalism whatsoever. It looks like 30% of the American population becoming psychotic at around the same 8-10 yr time period. The government/ military and medical community won’t be equipped to deal with the shear volume of infected citizens. Resulting in thousands of civilians walking the streets while in a completely physoctic state. Pyscyosis can result in self mutilation, homoscidal urges, cannibalism, basically anything imaginable if left untreated to progress. So. Could an epidemic of CJD result in something of a “Hollywood zombie apocalypse “? Absolutely. Especially when the disease take 30 to 50 years to reek havoc on the human neurological system.
You guys are stupid. My mother died of sporadic creutzfeldt Jakob’s disease. Variant type IS what doctors call mad cow. It is not a new strain, just another name for it. Also, if I were to contract Cjd from, say, eating the infected brain off my dead mother, I would also be categorized as having variant Cjd. I’m 1000 times more likely to die of Cjd due to my mother having it, BTW. You all are idiots.
Im very happy im a vegan.
This is interesting. Looking over all the other ideas of how other civilizations where wiped out and the possible zombie cause raised a few ideas that I have been pondering over. So far it seems that there is a common thread of evidence of cannibalism in each instance where a tribe or civilization has mysteriously disappeared. What if the cannibalism was the cause of the “zombie” problem? I hate to use movies as an example but I’m talking about how the humans behave much like in the “Book of Eli” or something like that. What if something happened where the population of that civilization or tribe was getting to big to sustain its self and cannibalism started to become a means of sustaining life. What would be the outcome of eating human flesh? It would be interesting to see the results of a study where one population was fed human remains but did not know they where human remains while another population knew that the food they where eating where human remains. This kind of test would be wrong on all sorts of moral issues but still, the results could be interesting. What if, over time, the consumption of human flesh actually started changing not only parts of the higher brain functions but the gland system within the body. It might show that higher brain function would be minimal making the subject’s consciousness exist in a more primal state in the animalistic brain stem area. It would be interesting to also be interesting to see if there are any changes to the gland system as well. Results could show that the glands could be producing more adrenalin and other hormones, much like “I am Legend” (yes I know that movie was more about the vampire condition), thus making the subject tougher to kill. This could give birth to the idea of the head shot being the only way to kill a zombie. If all these crazy results where true and I know that’s a lot of ifs, then the next problem is that the subjects are technically still alive. That’s raises then next thing to ponder. While the subjects would technically still be alive, meeting all the scientific requirements for life, would they really be considered to be alive on human standards? Much like when someone is brain dead and in a coma, they are technically alive but the person they where is gone forever. Could this be the case with prolong exposure to cannibalism? This could also shed light into how many different cultures believe that if you eat you enemy you would gain there power. It would just turn you into a zombie as well.
Okay bruh don’t talk so much I can’t read it all seriously dude just pls zip ur piehole
okay reanimation of a body and having it randomly decide to eat people is impossible what vCJD and the mutated strain of rabies over in arizona could do is turn the infected into ravanous, raging,relntless kiling machines they would be able to SPRINT when they attack pray the only time they would stumble around like a fake zombie is when they do not see pray they wallow around aimlessly like an undead BUT these zombies are living people just like the original zombies in hatie. the reason why (in theory) could happen is that the disease would develope a hormone/pheramone (changed from the chemicals already excisting in the body) that would act as a mild repelent towards other infected kind of like how we react to a rotten peice of steak we just dont want to eat it. people have to relize that if there is a zombie pandemic the zombies would be sprinting and offer a bigger challenge then there unrealistic shambeling cousins
OK, how edsactly is anything going to “reanimate” the human body? I mean, OK, yeah, it could kill a lot of people, but how is it going to make them rise again? A prion can’t take control of human muscles, your brain sends signals to your muscles making them move, how is a disease or mutation going to do this when your brain is dead?
Max Brooks’s scenario explains this. the virus could travel thru blood to the brain. once inside the brain, it would begin to destroy parts of it, specifically the frontal lobe. in the frontal lobe’s place, a new, self-sufficient organ that needs no fuel to run (this has been observed in earthly creatures called extremophiles). this new organ would control the body. after 18 hours, coma. after 20, reanimation. the zombie uses the body as a tool. this also explains why the brain must be destroyed.
Couple thoughts: 1) Brooks’ theory on how the zombie sickness works in the body has no basis in science, and was made up off the top of his head. 2) Extremophiles are organisms that live in extreme external conditions like a volcano. They do not relate to either Brooks’ theory or any science-based theory of how zombiism might function in the human brain.
O jeez, very scary