Questions

This post is purely for questions any of you may have for me regarding the Zombie Apocalypse or otherwise. I'll be sure to answer any questions you may have and will keep this post updated daily. Ask away.

@http://www.blogger.com/profile/10786175373805975443 "Won't scavenger animals eat the zombies?"
No. The fact remains that the zombies we're talking about are not undead, but as living as you and I; the difference being a viral infection (see previous post of mine on mutation and evolution of viruses). In short, the person would be aggressive and not only attack humans, but pretty much anything within proximity, including any animal that is trying to attack it. And as you know, the only way to take a zombie down is by shooting it in the head. While this isn't entirely the case here, disabling the nervous system is, in fact, the best way to rid yourself of the attacker. This is because of the lack of pain response of damage to the body itself.


@Randy "Why won't animals turn into zombies?"

This is actually a common misconception induced by the cinema. Though there is a possibility that other animals will not, in fact, be turned into zombies (due to them not being the primary host) it is more than likely that they will be effected just as easy as humans.


@Tornado Jackson
Sorry for the late reply, and thanks for the compliment. Anyway, I would say a sledgehammer is better considering the fact that after some time of carrying it around you would become used to the weight. Especially after hefting it at the heads of countless zombies. Not to mention if the virus could be transfered via fluids then the simple carnage of a chainsaw is a bad idea.

Mutation and evolution

The first and foremost thing I will discuss is why this is not only possible, but entirely plausible. First off, there are a couple of words you should know the exact meaning of, such as mutation and evolution. In the case of mutation, it's a change in an organism's genetic structure due to outside influences such as environmental necessity or radiation. Where it is unlikely that radiation would cause a significant enough change in a virus to entirely change its host, environmental change isn't at all far fetched.

This, of course, leads us into evolution. Evolution, like part of mutation, is attributed to necessity. Usually occurring at exponentially slow rates, this is not the case for viruses and bacteria. We are focusing on the virus, because of it's already zombie like qualities of spreading and, in a few, inducing behavior. As I said in my last post, the most likely candidate is a rabies like virus, for it already instills within it's host zombie like qualities. Aggressiveness, loss of thought process and the total takeover of primal instincts; not to mention the way it spreads. Through transfer of fluids. Sound familiar?

Back on our initial topic, the evolution of viruses. Viruses evolve at an alarming rate out of necessity, because they must evolve faster than their host cells or otherwise risk extermination by the host's immune system. A virus must keep a steady host to continue reproduction for obvious reasons. This means that if a host is limited or extinct, the virus must adapt to a new host.

Viral evolution has already been proven, most predominantly in the influenza strands. Some notable flu strands are the H1N1, which caused the Spanish flu back in the 1800s (now commonly referred to as "swine flu"), H5N1, referred to as the "Bird flu" (which, notably,is a current pandemic threat there is a fear of adapting to humans) and H7N3, which is also referred to as bird flu (though not as severe as H5N1). These strands of the influenza virus had adapted to their current ecosystem, as they were incapable of moving to a new one.

Now let me ask you this. Cities are growing at an alarming rate, destroying many forests, and heavily wooded areas. Common carriers of rabies are foxes, bats, rats and dogs(wild and domestic), however most of the animals that carry the virus live in these areas. Now, it must be noted that it does not take a significant environmental shift to induce adaptation. I"m not saying that all the wooded areas in a certain location must be destroyed for adaptation to occur. Viruses are much to cautious for that, instinctively so to speak. If a significant enough shift takes place, the virus will adapt accordingly. In the case of rabies, adapt to the most abundant mammal in the area, which would undoubtedly be human beings.

We have a potential epidemic on our hands and most people refuse to see it, be it out of fear or because the cinema makes it look like something that can't happen.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments, but for now I'll have to leave. I'll answer all questions I can in a separate post and will probably keep a unique post continually edited for questions. My next article will be for survival, so don't forget to check it out and comment. I'll try to help everybody's odds of survival, so stay tuned.

First post

Save for the dim light flooding in from outside, the room is perpetually black. You're waiting in a basement, hiding from the monstrosities that have made themselves known outside the protective concrete walls. Your world as you know it is crumbling around you, and it's all because of that damned infection. It started just a week or so ago, but has become a pandemic, turning any who suffer from it into a mindless, animalistic creature.

The news has said to lock yourself indoors and not to let anyone into your house. Even family, neighbors and friends could have been infected, inevitably leading to your untimely demise. This is not the common idea of a zombie, the walking dead. No; this is an infected being. Infected by a mutated strand of rabies, it instills in its victims the very qualities of a rabid dog, and for that matter, a zombie.

This is just a precursor of whats to come. Stay tuned as I begin to develop ideas of how such a fictional thing could easily become reality, but for now, this is all. Have a nice day, and remember. Always aim for the head.