The Zombie Virus Theory Thread

The three subjects I really want to touch on are:

1. Stages of infection.
2. Is blunt force trauma really a viable means of killing a zombie?
3. How long could a zombie really function?

1. Now if the virus was transmitted by bodily fluids & the infected died & became a lumbering zombie within hours I imagine the virus would be easily eradicated so...

• Stage 1: The infected becomes increasingly irritable, angry, paranoid & irrational some may be able to sustain from killing but others won't, at this stage they'll have most if not all of there faculties about them but they may become homicidal.
• Stage 2: They've absolutely lost there freakin minds & are no longer capable of reasoning but there senses, reflexes, speed, strength & endurance are through the roof, they're in overdrive until there hearts give out, then they die.
• Stage 3: Now there a zombie.

2. The amount of brain damage you'd have to inflict on a corpse using only the most basic brain functions must be tremendous, any blunt force trauma short of caving it's head in would be pointless.

3. How long would it take before a zombies nerves die or there muscles become atrophied & they can no longer function?

Feel free to discuss any & all things relating to zombies & zombie survival.

Interesting

1) The virus won't be an immediate threat. It will likely start off very slowly, masquerading as a cold or something, in order to infect the most hosts in the least amount of time. Symptoms would likely be minimum, maybe a mild fever, sleep depravation, slowing of the senses etc. Once it kills the host, at that point it will renanimate the dead tissue and make the victim mobile, with a hunger for flesh/brains, but all higher reasoning and effective conciousness will be gone, since the brain will still be dead. I'm not even sure if the heart would still pump blood, or if the virus would somehow stimulate nerves to make the muscles move.

2) You only have to excert about 300 psi to do serious brain damage to a normal person. Thats roughly the amount of force a normal man can swing a sledgehammer at. Zombies however, would be a different story, since the zombie brain is less active, and probably would not be affected with a knock out blow. I suspect an impact of 600 psi would do the trick, which would be enough to rupture a brain. Or my prefered method, 5.56mm Steel Cored rounds, dead centre of the cerebral cortex.

3) As I said, the virus would somehow stimulate nerves to create muscle contraction, so I don't think atrophy is really a concern.

Those symptoms sound like an airborne virus & if The Zombie Virus was airborne it would be catastrophic & we'd all be screwed. Lets hope it's not.

Ahh, I'd much rather have the Parasyte infection instead I'd say.

But this zombie virus would be interesting. The one thing to remember is that once the host becomes undead, their cells no longer regenerate/replicate. So even if the virus could simulate muscle contractions, that would not stop the natural orders of decay. The sun would cause unbelievable damage to a zombie (ie it would explode in a number of days from gas buildup), the cold would cause severe frostbite which would make the bones and tissue brittle. Finally even simple things like the wind (and small blown particulates) would literally erode away a zombie. Humans would have to survive the initial outbreak for maybe a few months (depending on the time of the year) and they would be fine. In nearly every incarnation, the zombie needs the brain intact to function...what's stopping bacteria, fungi, and other agents of decay from breaking the reanimated body down just like a normal dead body? (I suppose the virus could fight all this off...but that's a whole heck of a lot for it to do at once.)

If all the zombie virus needs to keep a corpse animated is the basic or hindbrain, then a shot to the upper neck/base of the skull would be the most effective, as would decapitation. Of course removing a zombie's arms and legs would certainly reduce it's effectiveness as well. Overall, a zombie apocalypse would not be as scary as something like what happened in I am Legend, 28 Days Later, etc.

@profz: It's really not. The CDC and the Pentagon did a study on a theoretical zombie apocalypse. They found out that if the Military gets it's sh*t together in short order, they can contain and eliminate an outbreak in a few days.

@killerforhire: As a biochemist, I'm inclined to the most realistic scenario such the rage virus from 28 days later or mind hijacking parasites from World War Z. The "zombies" aren't dead but a walking feral menace - alive but brain activity controlled by the pathogen. With that in mind, fresh zombies will be more active and healthier. I'd say they'd be potentially at the host's peak condition if they have a constant supply of food source. Much to people's surprise, a human stomach can process a raw meat diet to support a body without major problems. If the pathogen boosts the immune system, then there would be less zombies who are physically sick or dying of food borne illness.

1. That depends. The best chance for a pathogen is if it can transmit itself through air and have the shortest incubation period. Works of fiction usually restrict the transmission method to saliva and contaminated bodily fluids having contact with the victim's blood, with incubation period ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes.

2. I'd say if you can get the zombies asystole, you are fine. Dead is dead, doesn't necessarily have to be brain damage but any number of methods to damage and cease biological function of the host.

3. As long as the host body can hunt and gather food - I'd give it anywhere from a day to a year under the reckless abandon life style they'll be living.

Cool fact: Ants are susceptible to a certain parasitic fungus that take full control of its behavior, which is good enough to be considered a zombie ant in my book. lol

I'd love to be immune in a zombie apocalypse/threat

@kgb725: Careful what you wish for. In World War Z being immune was being fatally ill. The zombies avoid you like the plaque if you're very ill (cancer or what not).

But it is like the 28 Days Later rage virus the infection drives you mad long before it kills you.

@axelroq: Movie World War Z sucks. The novel version is way better.

good

@mandarinestro: I'll check it out. I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels.

@axelroq: Eh not necessarily it doesn't have to be some virus that'll kill you

@axelroq: Hope you like it.

@rd189: Agreed, zombies are slow and don't use weapons. Even if they moved faster, the only threat of a "zombie apocalypse" would come from a slow military response and rapid, massive infections of civilians across a large scale. If the virus was spore based and dropped over a city the size of NYC with a near total infection rate...I could see it spreading pretty quickly.

As described it starts out like this virus, but after a rather short time (until heart gives out) it kills you and reanimates you as a zombie. What I'm saying is that once they are actual zombies, they will get stomped by environmental factors...and of course any armed and organized military resistance.

I knew the cool fact, but this was very informative. Thank you :)