DO YOU CARRY THE ZOMBIE BLOOD TYPE?

We recently discussed Typhoid Mary and the danger that asymptomatic carriers could pose during the inevitable zombie plague. In the earliest phase of any outbreak it’s entirely possible that medical personnel simply wouldn’t know what to look for; doctors, hospitals, even blood banks could easily miss an unfamiliar new infection, disease, or parasite via traditional means. Well-meaning donors all around the world could be filling bags with tainted blood right now!

Simply picture a zombie outbreak, virtually unknown to the world, where victims are in need of life-saving blood transfusions; only to find out later that asymptomatic carriers have been filling our reserves with contaminated blood. It’s a deadly recipe for a world-wide epidemic.

But who could we possibly blame for such a widespread pandemic? Well, in the rare case of asymptomatic blood donations, look no further than Type O Negative; also commonly known as the universal donor. Because this particular blood type is compatible with almost anyone, it’s often used in emergencies like a zombie apocalypse! The Mayo Clinic elaborates online:

Ideally, blood transfusions are done with donated blood that’s an exact match for type and Rh factor. Even then, small samples of the recipient’s and donor’s blood are mixed to check compatibility in a process known as crossmatching.

In an emergency, type O negative red blood cells may be given to anyone — especially if the situation is life-threatening or the matching blood type is in short supply.

The idea that zombies spread their infection through the bloodstream via bites, scratches, and open wounds is a commonly held belief among many researchers. This concept is also explored in a number of popular films, television programs, and comic books. In the video game series Dead Island for example, the zombie virus is known as Pathogen HK; which will quietly incubate for a period of hours, or even days, after finding its way inside a human host.

While the living dead themselves pose an immediate threat of infection, asymptomatic blood donors could prove to be much more subversive and dangerous! In fact, a recently published research paper regarding Dengue fever determined that transmission by blood transfusion is an important route of viral acquisition during outbreaks; and their findings are frightening.

According to the report, “Brazil is the country with the largest number of reported DENV cases annually in the Americas, and the magnitude of outbreaks and severity of the disease has been increasing”. However, the Brazilian Health Authorities have never implemented or enforced any measures to prevent transmission of Dengue fever via blood transfusion. They don’t screen for it, they don’t test for it, and they certainly don’t seem to care if they infect donors or recipients with the deadly virus! The study actually showed that nearly 7% of blood donors had already experienced an asymptomatic infection, which means that a significant portion of the entire country could now be asymptomatic carriers of the Dengue virus as well.

During the inevitable zombie apocalypse, those of you carrying the zombie blood type, aka Type O Negative, are much more likely to unknowingly spread the infection without proper testing or screening. Even today the penalties for intentionally infecting others, or donating diseased blood, have been greatly reduced from a felony offense to a mere misdemeanor in certain states. We can only hope that the regulations regarding diseased blood donations are tightened up a bit when the dead eventually rise from their graves and begin to eat the living.

In the meantime, we want to be perfectly clear; the zombie apocalypse isn’t upon us quite yet. And donating blood is a noble, compassionate, and generous endeavor. So please continue to support your local Red Cross, because the free chocolate-chip cookies are totally worth it.

But if you’d like to learn more about blood types or universal donors, visit the Mayo Clinic for additional details. And if you’re curious about asymptomatic blood donors and their ability to unwittingly infect an entire population amid an epidemic; check out this recent report titled “Dengue Seroprevalence Among Asymptomatic Blood Donors During An Epidemic Outbreak in Central-West Brazil” as published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Assuming the zombie infection is spread via blood; we’ll certainly be keeping our eyes on all of you universal donors during the outbreak. After all, what you don’t know can eat you!