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Possibility of "Recovery"
This is totally unsupported speculation, but what if.....
Bonemill: Well, I believe the possibility of human recovery is very much impossible. There is no way to regain decaying flesh. There very well may be a cure to the virus itself but it would only be useful to those who were bitten very recently and if there was such a cure it would be so precious that everyone would be fighting over it and you would surely turn before you could ever get your hands on it. Once The flesh starts decaying and it gets so bad that your horribly disfigured frankly I wouldn't want to be cured after that. You would always look like a zombie. The body wouldn't be able to heal the wounds because the nerves and blood flow to those areas would be so badly cut off that you could not do anything with it. So a cure yes its possible but would it be useful?? I say if they don't find one within the first month there would be no point in continuing the search until you have time on your hands and have established a good living community away from the undead.
GunnerGraye: Well, here's the way I see it; there is never gonna be a cure ever. Unless a bullet through the skull could be counted as a cure. But besides that...no. I don't believe there will ever, ever be a cure to such a horrible virus.
ZEROFLY: It depends on which virus we're dealing with. I can see a cure being made for the rage virus. That person infected doesn't die, and in theory could be given a cure and in time return to normal. That is the only way I see there ever being a cure. It wouldn't work with a virus like solanum. This virus kills you and takes over you body. Now here this, you're DEAD and your blood stream isn't flowing. So even if someone stupid enough to try and stick a zombie with a cure, it wouldn't do anything. The cure would sit in the coagulated blood, and nothing would happen. Plus there wouldn't be anything to bring back. The person is dead remember?
PalookaLord: A "cure" is impossible in most cases; however, a "prevention" may be very possible. In most cases, the virus enters the body--almost always through a bite--gets into the bloodstream, travels to the brain, at which point it kills the body, and brain death occurs. The brain then mutates into a new organ (this is the case with Solanum, at any rate) and the body reanimates. Not only is it impossible to cure death, but even if something like that did happen, the brain is no longer the brain we know. For all we know, it would become little more than a living zombie.
DevilMayCrye: There could only be a cure if it was a disease or a virus, but it could only work on the recently bitten, as long as the bite isn't life threatening. If is was voodoo or magic related (doubt it, but who knows), then you would have to use the appropriate spell to dispel the zombie spell.
KillX1234: Honestly, a cure just depends on where the virus, infection, disease, or parasite comes from(natural,man-made,somewhere else). If it is a virus that comes from nature, like the rain forest, then there is a very good chance there is a cure, because when something comes from nature there is USUALLY an animal or something that is a host and has antibodies that can be used to treat someone who has just been bitten. If they have already changed they are screwed. Also, if it is just a parasite that controls your brain, that can be destroyed by deep UV therapy as long as it hasn't destroyed the brain yet. But if it is a man-made virus(which i think it will be for bio warfare) the military or whoever makes it will undoubtedly try to make a cure before deploying it. But as most of us know the army thinks it is better to just blow up the infected area no matter where it is. Even if its on the USA's home soil. I Live in Canada and I'm not to worried about this yet. Its not like the Canadian government would take any zombie crap if we were invaded by them. And I have one more thing to say. There's another worry about Zombie attacks:War. If any country got overrun by zombies, other countries may see that as a chance to invade and take over and kill everybody. All in all I don't think there is a cure and there wont be for a very long time. But you never know, viruses can mutate whenever they want.
Z13: Most viral infections have no known cure. But some of them do, and the ones that do are the ones that we should research on and find out exactly what cures them. Then try it on other pathogenic viruses, hopefully there is a cure-all for viral infection
Hell_Razor: That would depend on the type of zombie. If we're dealing with the "28 Days Later" Speed Freaks, then a cure could possibly be manufactured using a retro-virus. If the virus in question is artificially engineered, then a virus to counter the disease could be introduced into the bloodstream. Keep in mind, most people are just one brain chemical away (serotonin) from turning into violent killers. If the virus simply alters brain chemistry, then therapy or anti-depressants could be introduced to put the brain back in balance.
If we're dealing with the necrotic Romero or Brooks zombies, then a cure might be far more difficult. As everything aside from the nervous system and parts of the brain are all that are still "alive", restoration of dead brain cells and damaged tissue are key. The only plausible remedy might be stem cell therapy, and we all know what a political powder keg that is. Even so, the best cure for one of these zombies is 45 cc's of lead directly shot to the skull.
The Professional: The possibility of a cure is real. I believe that is nothing more than a virus, while fast acting and highly lethal, treatment must be possible. At least we must keep that in mind if we are to ever recover from the remains of an outbreak completely. To even conceptualize a cure/treatment we must understand how the virus works within the body. Since the virus seems to attack the brain last (since the person loses their ability to remember people they knew and basic functions) it must attack the body systems first. Possibly starting with the immune system like an HIV/AIDS virus gone hulk. This way the body becomes completely defenseless against its effects. This would result in flu-like symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, headaches and unstable bowels. The next system (or rather organ) would be the liver, resulting in the abdominal pain. As the virus breaks down the tissue in the liver severe pain, and bruising, would result. Destroying the liver would cause the body to fail to filter out the virus naturally. The liver does act to help clear out such things from the blood and exit them through the urinary system or bowels. Again, keeping the body's defenses in check. Next the virus attacks the body's cardiovascular system causing severe tachycardia (fast heart rate) and hyperventilation. This causes the virus to circulate through the system more quickly now that the liver no longer filters it out. Expiditeing the process of infection. Finally, the virus makes its way towards the brain. The victim will now begin to have delusions and possibly hallucinations as the virus begins to deteriorate the frontal lobe. This prevents the victim from attempting any further actions that would end the viruses ability to continue itself. (IE Suicide) As time progresses the victim will become more and more irrational. Eventually the victim dies and soon becomes a member of the Zed army. In order to combat this virus we attack its primary source, the immune system. I believe that injecting a victim with a high amount of "blank" WBCs that contain the genetic material of the virus. Similar to a vaccine, but instead of the WBCs learning how to manage a new virus (and failing in this case) they walk into it knowing how to kill the virus before the virus has a chance to wipe out the immune system. The "blank" means that the WBCs are created from stem cells that have been engineered to be acceptable in all blood-types by removing the Rh Factor. The victim's blood will be added to the serum prior to injection to form it as the victim's own. Thus removing the hazard of the victim's body rejecting the WBCs or the WBCs attacking the victim instead. So long as the victim is treated before effects to the brain take place they should make a recovery. Once its reached the brain not only has the virus thoroughly saturated the host, but the brain damage will be irreversible. At this point the virus will be almost impossible to combat even with the new WBCs.
Renegade13:I think there might be a cure if it's a virus.
Tacticalplanner: If it is a virus, then a new super-cure being developed could be used. Some research complex is developing an anti-virus that rips the thing apart by rupturing the cell membrane in a few billion places at once. The only way to evolve to defeat it would be to harden the membrane enough, but that would be the equivalent of men developing bullet-proof skin. Nice, huh? It was in a Popular Science a few months back.
Gladimnotdaonly1: Recently I came across some info about a new dialysis machine. If it is a viral infection, this new machine will fight off the infection for a while. Basically it filters your entire blood system in a few hours. Giving you more time. It's a start. I've been working on more theories, but without a genetic reference it would be a shot in the dark. So far my focuses are on mutations of different diseases, parasitic and cerebral related diseases or damage. I've been looking in every direction I can. I have a little background in genetics, neurology, and microbiology. With my ever-growing knowledge, I'm collecting as much useful data as possible. So fret not, I'm working on it.
Putsleadinzombiehead: Just remember that if there is a cure, you will need to administer said cure before the body rots to the point that the human will die anyway, just something little to remember.
See also:
- Being bitten is an interim state, like a vampire that has been turned but hasn't killed anyone yet?
- Like any viral condition, the effect is temporary? Like having a bad case of the flu that lasts 3 to 4 months?
- Or, as in Resident evil, there could be a cure for the virus?
< sound off here about your unsupported theories!>
Gman251990: If it is a virus then there must be a cure but not all viruses have cures example the AIDS virus there are ways of slowing down infection but it ultimately leads to death or in this case zombification
HeavenlySword: In reply to copping1000, allow me to borrow SuperSoldier's Super Punch. SUPER SMASHHH!!!! No, it is not impossible for a virus to have a 100% death rate. Initially statistics can trick you, see the Recombinomics article on the infamous Marburg virus. Initially, the fatality rate appeared over 23%. While that is bad, thats nothing compared to what it really did. In the final death toll, it achieved a fatality of over 96% (148/154)
In addition, in an Undead Viral Outbreak, if 'only' 90% of the bitten, or even 50%, or even 25% of the bitten turned into Zombies, wouldn't the zombie swarms still eat the living people anyways? Admittedly, it would be useful to know some survivors have immunity, and it would result in much smaller hordes of zombies, allowing you to much more effectively destroy them.
Copping1000: If there is a cure, then the zombies must have been made by a virus. Its impossible for a virus to have 100% death rate so the virus might not kill people bitten by zombies it may just take hold of the body when the bitten person dies from other wounds. This means that a bitten person could survive if they received medical help. In this case, the virus may go into a hibernation state only becoming active when the person dies at a later date. In this case everyone could be infected by the virus if it was airborne and people would only know when you die and the virus takes hold even if you weren't bitten by a zombie. Now to the point about a cure--every virus can be killed by a certain antibody. This means that the human body could cure the zombie virus making a generation of zombie resistant humans. On the other hand the virus could be cured by man made antibodies.
HeavenlySword: In reply to copping1000, allow me to borrow SuperSoldier's Super Punch. SUPER SMASHHH!!!! No, it is not impossible for a virus to have a 100% death rate. Initially statistics can trick you, see the Recombinomics article on the infamous Marburg virus. Initially, the fatality rate appeared over 23%. While that is bad, thats nothing compared to what it really did. In the final death toll, it achieved a fatality of over 96% (148/154)
In addition, in an Undead Viral Outbreak, if 'only' 90% of the bitten, or even 50%, or even 25% of the bitten turned into Zombies, wouldn't the zombie swarms still eat the living people anyways? Admittedly, it would be useful to know some survivors have immunity, and it would result in much smaller hordes of zombies, allowing you to much more effectively destroy them.
Copping1000: If there is a cure, then the zombies must have been made by a virus. Its impossible for a virus to have 100% death rate so the virus might not kill people bitten by zombies it may just take hold of the body when the bitten person dies from other wounds. This means that a bitten person could survive if they received medical help. In this case, the virus may go into a hibernation state only becoming active when the person dies at a later date. In this case everyone could be infected by the virus if it was airborne and people would only know when you die and the virus takes hold even if you weren't bitten by a zombie. Now to the point about a cure--every virus can be killed by a certain antibody. This means that the human body could cure the zombie virus making a generation of zombie resistant humans. On the other hand the virus could be cured by man made antibodies.
Jukiness: All things in life have rules, and this needs to be considered when talking about "curing" a zombie. If one is living and bitten, I feel there may be a cure. For instance say a person is bit in the hand, moments before the attacking zombie is dispatched. Perhaps removing the entire arm will destroy the offending tissue, ceasing the spread? Or while the person remains unturned, getting some sort of anti-virus injections? Once a zombie is turned, their body is, for all intents and purposes, DEAD. We have NO CURE FOR DEATH. Even if you could stop the virus in a zombie...it would only leave a corpse. However, if this "cure" could be made airborne, or applicable via long range weaponry (dart gun? hose?) then perhaps this would become THE way to kill zombies (and stop the spread of the disease, by curing all carriers).
TonyPro - I am tentative about a few things Copping1000 stated--it is possible for a virus to have a 100% fatality rate, at least in theory. Regarding antibodies, every time one is used, the virus subjected to it begins to evolve to become more and more resistant to it. Subsequently, the antibody would have to be made proportionately more potent until it became dangerous for humans to use. Scientists speculate that within the next century, most known viruses will have thusly transcended classification as 'curable' and the human population at large will be, to all intents and purposes, screwed. However, your idea of the virus lingering idly in the body until the person dies of natural causes is definitely food for thought.
What Jukiness said above is highly interesting. The cure could be the zombie's strongest weakness. I agree; if we are dealing with 'dead' zombies, which I believe we will be, cure is impossible. Killing the virus would simply result in a corpse (which I'll admit is preferable to the alternative). But supposing the inverse; that the host of the virus would still be technically 'alive' (i.e. infected with Rage), it seems as if the virus must do considerable damage to the brain tissue. The virus could not simply commandeer the brain; it would have to incapacitate its ability for independent thought. Therefore, were the virus disposed of, the host would either die of brain trauma, be severely brain damaged, or pull a Terry Schiavo and enter a persistent vegetative state.
: To put my opinion simply: Recovery is either impossible or pointless. In the event that a zombie cannot be returned to a human state, destroying it seems to be the only way to "revert" if we are speaking of the generally accepted Undead Zombie. Feral Zombies, such as the Rage Virus creates would be utterly pointless. If it were even possible to bring a person back from this existence, they would be emotionally, mentally, physically scarred for the duration of their existence. This is assuming they remember what they had done during this period of zombie activity. Maybe an antidote could be created, but would you truly wish you use it? Unless the affects were known from experience I personally would not get anywhere near the zombie target. I agree with the destruction of all carriers as a way to combat the virus, but as far as curing infected people.... I see no alternative as viable other than their destruction.
roxas33: My opinion is there is no cure other then putting a bullet in the head. They are dead and there is no cure for death other then being a zombie which is the problem to begin with. Furthermore, if you could reverse the effects of being a zombie then you would have the problem of dealing with corpses.
Bundy747- When the weight of the world is on our shoulders will we be able to hold it? The important question isn’t about the existence of a cure, its whether we have the strength to find it. There are plenty of viruses out there today that have gone uncured…and that is in a non zombie infested world….fast forward a bit…The government is null, small bands of militia roam the street, no power, no heat, no hope. The fighters will fight, and the others will die. I would like to think that there would be a small group of scientist in some bunker somewhere figuring it all out…but reality isn’t so kind now, is it? If a cure comes, then so be it….but don’t wait…for your future will be determined only by yourself. You can hope for a cure in one hand and crap in the other…see which one fills up first!
McSkullcracken - A cure, you say? Highly unlikely. As the Great Max Brooks pointed out in the Sacred Tome, The Zombie Survival Guide (spoken with awe and reverence), a cure to any virus takes time and money that only Governments and large private donations can provide. To use the example He used, look at AIDS. Twenty some odd years and no cure, even with all the resources poured into finding one. So a cure to Solanum ( or the T-virus or Rage virus if you want to get all fictional) is almost certain never to come, given the complete lack of Government attention/acknowledgement and general disbelief in the masses.
....But for the sake of argument....
Any cure would be useless once the infection has taken complete hold of the host i.e. the infected organs have all shut down, except the small amount of brain tissue the zombie uses. So a cure would absolutely need to be administered beforehand. Given the lack of medical care available now, and compounded with the chaos any zombie outbreak would bring, distribution of the cure would be negligible. Only those either close to or with the wealth necessary to buy it, and knowledge of the scientists with the cure would have access to it. Meaning, you, yes you, would almost assuredly never have it should you or a loved one or friend need it. You really should simply stick a long sharp object into their brain, or use a bullet if you feel they are worth it.
Alright... say you are one of the lucky few who has the cure available when someone is infected. What if it has dire side effects, such as paralysis, brain or other organ damage, even death (Well, then you might be using a bullet)? Worse still, what if the cure is not guaranteed?! Then what would you do? Tie them up? Isolate them? Surely you are intelligent enough not to simply let them wander freely about after administering a cure, you have enough problems without a zombie you thought was a cured person (And you are reading this! If you are reading this you should, nay, must know better!). All of this would need to be considered if there were a cure.
Which there isn't, so don't fret over what to do if you find it because you won't since it doesn't exist.
betterdeadthanundead : Until we know for sure if the zombie plague is a virus, a bacteria, a disease, or something else entirely like the effects of a chemical agent or product of interaction with a substance not of this earth, it is impossible to say what defines 'infection'. And further still, we cannot know if infection is curable if we do not know what the mechanism for infection is. We can hope that the first days of the plague will allow scientific observation of victims, and hopefully at least a rudimentary form of experimentation on infected subjects. This may give us at least a starting point toward understanding what we face. But again, to think of a cure is premature at best. The zombie is our enemy. He is to be given no quarter. Until we know otherwise, anyone infected is lost. Our own survival is paramount. Which brings up more questions - does the infection take hold from just an injury, even if the injury itself is not fatal? If a zombie bites your arm, and fluid is transferred, are you instantly infected and doomed to become a zombie? If this is the case, we should all invest in rip stop wardrobes and Kevlar helmets (maybe not a bad idea anyway). And if you are bitten and infected, will the infection eventually kill you if the injury does not? If you are bitten and infected but do not die, will you become a zombie when you do one day die (even if it is decades later)? Once you are infected, are you a carrier, so to speak? This would seem to make sense, but again, we do not know yet. Perhaps the infection can kill simply by being introduced into a host before death, or perhaps it remains dormant until the host expires.
We also do not know through what method(s) of delivery the infection is transmitted. It could be solely through fluid transfer, such as a bite wound or blood transfusion. The infection could also be airborne, especially if it is a chemical agent. It could also be transmitted through ingestion such as drinking from a tainted source (a zombie decomposing in a body of water could potentially contaminate the entire volume).
All we can do at this point is speculate, but to err on the side of caution and prepare for all contingencies is the most prudent course of action until we know what we are up against.
TonyPro - I am tentative about a few things Copping1000 stated--it is possible for a virus to have a 100% fatality rate, at least in theory. Regarding antibodies, every time one is used, the virus subjected to it begins to evolve to become more and more resistant to it. Subsequently, the antibody would have to be made proportionately more potent until it became dangerous for humans to use. Scientists speculate that within the next century, most known viruses will have thusly transcended classification as 'curable' and the human population at large will be, to all intents and purposes, screwed. However, your idea of the virus lingering idly in the body until the person dies of natural causes is definitely food for thought.
What Jukiness said above is highly interesting. The cure could be the zombie's strongest weakness. I agree; if we are dealing with 'dead' zombies, which I believe we will be, cure is impossible. Killing the virus would simply result in a corpse (which I'll admit is preferable to the alternative). But supposing the inverse; that the host of the virus would still be technically 'alive' (i.e. infected with Rage), it seems as if the virus must do considerable damage to the brain tissue. The virus could not simply commandeer the brain; it would have to incapacitate its ability for independent thought. Therefore, were the virus disposed of, the host would either die of brain trauma, be severely brain damaged, or pull a Terry Schiavo and enter a persistent vegetative state.
: To put my opinion simply: Recovery is either impossible or pointless. In the event that a zombie cannot be returned to a human state, destroying it seems to be the only way to "revert" if we are speaking of the generally accepted Undead Zombie. Feral Zombies, such as the Rage Virus creates would be utterly pointless. If it were even possible to bring a person back from this existence, they would be emotionally, mentally, physically scarred for the duration of their existence. This is assuming they remember what they had done during this period of zombie activity. Maybe an antidote could be created, but would you truly wish you use it? Unless the affects were known from experience I personally would not get anywhere near the zombie target. I agree with the destruction of all carriers as a way to combat the virus, but as far as curing infected people.... I see no alternative as viable other than their destruction.
roxas33: My opinion is there is no cure other then putting a bullet in the head. They are dead and there is no cure for death other then being a zombie which is the problem to begin with. Furthermore, if you could reverse the effects of being a zombie then you would have the problem of dealing with corpses.
Bundy747- When the weight of the world is on our shoulders will we be able to hold it? The important question isn’t about the existence of a cure, its whether we have the strength to find it. There are plenty of viruses out there today that have gone uncured…and that is in a non zombie infested world….fast forward a bit…The government is null, small bands of militia roam the street, no power, no heat, no hope. The fighters will fight, and the others will die. I would like to think that there would be a small group of scientist in some bunker somewhere figuring it all out…but reality isn’t so kind now, is it? If a cure comes, then so be it….but don’t wait…for your future will be determined only by yourself. You can hope for a cure in one hand and crap in the other…see which one fills up first!
McSkullcracken - A cure, you say? Highly unlikely. As the Great Max Brooks pointed out in the Sacred Tome, The Zombie Survival Guide (spoken with awe and reverence), a cure to any virus takes time and money that only Governments and large private donations can provide. To use the example He used, look at AIDS. Twenty some odd years and no cure, even with all the resources poured into finding one. So a cure to Solanum ( or the T-virus or Rage virus if you want to get all fictional) is almost certain never to come, given the complete lack of Government attention/acknowledgement and general disbelief in the masses.
....But for the sake of argument....
Any cure would be useless once the infection has taken complete hold of the host i.e. the infected organs have all shut down, except the small amount of brain tissue the zombie uses. So a cure would absolutely need to be administered beforehand. Given the lack of medical care available now, and compounded with the chaos any zombie outbreak would bring, distribution of the cure would be negligible. Only those either close to or with the wealth necessary to buy it, and knowledge of the scientists with the cure would have access to it. Meaning, you, yes you, would almost assuredly never have it should you or a loved one or friend need it. You really should simply stick a long sharp object into their brain, or use a bullet if you feel they are worth it.
Alright... say you are one of the lucky few who has the cure available when someone is infected. What if it has dire side effects, such as paralysis, brain or other organ damage, even death (Well, then you might be using a bullet)? Worse still, what if the cure is not guaranteed?! Then what would you do? Tie them up? Isolate them? Surely you are intelligent enough not to simply let them wander freely about after administering a cure, you have enough problems without a zombie you thought was a cured person (And you are reading this! If you are reading this you should, nay, must know better!). All of this would need to be considered if there were a cure.
Which there isn't, so don't fret over what to do if you find it because you won't since it doesn't exist.
betterdeadthanundead : Until we know for sure if the zombie plague is a virus, a bacteria, a disease, or something else entirely like the effects of a chemical agent or product of interaction with a substance not of this earth, it is impossible to say what defines 'infection'. And further still, we cannot know if infection is curable if we do not know what the mechanism for infection is. We can hope that the first days of the plague will allow scientific observation of victims, and hopefully at least a rudimentary form of experimentation on infected subjects. This may give us at least a starting point toward understanding what we face. But again, to think of a cure is premature at best. The zombie is our enemy. He is to be given no quarter. Until we know otherwise, anyone infected is lost. Our own survival is paramount. Which brings up more questions - does the infection take hold from just an injury, even if the injury itself is not fatal? If a zombie bites your arm, and fluid is transferred, are you instantly infected and doomed to become a zombie? If this is the case, we should all invest in rip stop wardrobes and Kevlar helmets (maybe not a bad idea anyway). And if you are bitten and infected, will the infection eventually kill you if the injury does not? If you are bitten and infected but do not die, will you become a zombie when you do one day die (even if it is decades later)? Once you are infected, are you a carrier, so to speak? This would seem to make sense, but again, we do not know yet. Perhaps the infection can kill simply by being introduced into a host before death, or perhaps it remains dormant until the host expires.
We also do not know through what method(s) of delivery the infection is transmitted. It could be solely through fluid transfer, such as a bite wound or blood transfusion. The infection could also be airborne, especially if it is a chemical agent. It could also be transmitted through ingestion such as drinking from a tainted source (a zombie decomposing in a body of water could potentially contaminate the entire volume).
All we can do at this point is speculate, but to err on the side of caution and prepare for all contingencies is the most prudent course of action until we know what we are up against.
Bonemill: Well, I believe the possibility of human recovery is very much impossible. There is no way to regain decaying flesh. There very well may be a cure to the virus itself but it would only be useful to those who were bitten very recently and if there was such a cure it would be so precious that everyone would be fighting over it and you would surely turn before you could ever get your hands on it. Once The flesh starts decaying and it gets so bad that your horribly disfigured frankly I wouldn't want to be cured after that. You would always look like a zombie. The body wouldn't be able to heal the wounds because the nerves and blood flow to those areas would be so badly cut off that you could not do anything with it. So a cure yes its possible but would it be useful?? I say if they don't find one within the first month there would be no point in continuing the search until you have time on your hands and have established a good living community away from the undead.
GunnerGraye: Well, here's the way I see it; there is never gonna be a cure ever. Unless a bullet through the skull could be counted as a cure. But besides that...no. I don't believe there will ever, ever be a cure to such a horrible virus.
ZEROFLY: It depends on which virus we're dealing with. I can see a cure being made for the rage virus. That person infected doesn't die, and in theory could be given a cure and in time return to normal. That is the only way I see there ever being a cure. It wouldn't work with a virus like solanum. This virus kills you and takes over you body. Now here this, you're DEAD and your blood stream isn't flowing. So even if someone stupid enough to try and stick a zombie with a cure, it wouldn't do anything. The cure would sit in the coagulated blood, and nothing would happen. Plus there wouldn't be anything to bring back. The person is dead remember?
PalookaLord: A "cure" is impossible in most cases; however, a "prevention" may be very possible. In most cases, the virus enters the body--almost always through a bite--gets into the bloodstream, travels to the brain, at which point it kills the body, and brain death occurs. The brain then mutates into a new organ (this is the case with Solanum, at any rate) and the body reanimates. Not only is it impossible to cure death, but even if something like that did happen, the brain is no longer the brain we know. For all we know, it would become little more than a living zombie.
DevilMayCrye: There could only be a cure if it was a disease or a virus, but it could only work on the recently bitten, as long as the bite isn't life threatening. If is was voodoo or magic related (doubt it, but who knows), then you would have to use the appropriate spell to dispel the zombie spell.
KillX1234: Honestly, a cure just depends on where the virus, infection, disease, or parasite comes from(natural,man-made,somewhere else). If it is a virus that comes from nature, like the rain forest, then there is a very good chance there is a cure, because when something comes from nature there is USUALLY an animal or something that is a host and has antibodies that can be used to treat someone who has just been bitten. If they have already changed they are screwed. Also, if it is just a parasite that controls your brain, that can be destroyed by deep UV therapy as long as it hasn't destroyed the brain yet. But if it is a man-made virus(which i think it will be for bio warfare) the military or whoever makes it will undoubtedly try to make a cure before deploying it. But as most of us know the army thinks it is better to just blow up the infected area no matter where it is. Even if its on the USA's home soil. I Live in Canada and I'm not to worried about this yet. Its not like the Canadian government would take any zombie crap if we were invaded by them. And I have one more thing to say. There's another worry about Zombie attacks:War. If any country got overrun by zombies, other countries may see that as a chance to invade and take over and kill everybody. All in all I don't think there is a cure and there wont be for a very long time. But you never know, viruses can mutate whenever they want.
Z13: Most viral infections have no known cure. But some of them do, and the ones that do are the ones that we should research on and find out exactly what cures them. Then try it on other pathogenic viruses, hopefully there is a cure-all for viral infection
Hell_Razor: That would depend on the type of zombie. If we're dealing with the "28 Days Later" Speed Freaks, then a cure could possibly be manufactured using a retro-virus. If the virus in question is artificially engineered, then a virus to counter the disease could be introduced into the bloodstream. Keep in mind, most people are just one brain chemical away (serotonin) from turning into violent killers. If the virus simply alters brain chemistry, then therapy or anti-depressants could be introduced to put the brain back in balance.
If we're dealing with the necrotic Romero or Brooks zombies, then a cure might be far more difficult. As everything aside from the nervous system and parts of the brain are all that are still "alive", restoration of dead brain cells and damaged tissue are key. The only plausible remedy might be stem cell therapy, and we all know what a political powder keg that is. Even so, the best cure for one of these zombies is 45 cc's of lead directly shot to the skull.
The Professional: The possibility of a cure is real. I believe that is nothing more than a virus, while fast acting and highly lethal, treatment must be possible. At least we must keep that in mind if we are to ever recover from the remains of an outbreak completely. To even conceptualize a cure/treatment we must understand how the virus works within the body. Since the virus seems to attack the brain last (since the person loses their ability to remember people they knew and basic functions) it must attack the body systems first. Possibly starting with the immune system like an HIV/AIDS virus gone hulk. This way the body becomes completely defenseless against its effects. This would result in flu-like symptoms such as nausea, abdominal pain, headaches and unstable bowels. The next system (or rather organ) would be the liver, resulting in the abdominal pain. As the virus breaks down the tissue in the liver severe pain, and bruising, would result. Destroying the liver would cause the body to fail to filter out the virus naturally. The liver does act to help clear out such things from the blood and exit them through the urinary system or bowels. Again, keeping the body's defenses in check. Next the virus attacks the body's cardiovascular system causing severe tachycardia (fast heart rate) and hyperventilation. This causes the virus to circulate through the system more quickly now that the liver no longer filters it out. Expiditeing the process of infection. Finally, the virus makes its way towards the brain. The victim will now begin to have delusions and possibly hallucinations as the virus begins to deteriorate the frontal lobe. This prevents the victim from attempting any further actions that would end the viruses ability to continue itself. (IE Suicide) As time progresses the victim will become more and more irrational. Eventually the victim dies and soon becomes a member of the Zed army. In order to combat this virus we attack its primary source, the immune system. I believe that injecting a victim with a high amount of "blank" WBCs that contain the genetic material of the virus. Similar to a vaccine, but instead of the WBCs learning how to manage a new virus (and failing in this case) they walk into it knowing how to kill the virus before the virus has a chance to wipe out the immune system. The "blank" means that the WBCs are created from stem cells that have been engineered to be acceptable in all blood-types by removing the Rh Factor. The victim's blood will be added to the serum prior to injection to form it as the victim's own. Thus removing the hazard of the victim's body rejecting the WBCs or the WBCs attacking the victim instead. So long as the victim is treated before effects to the brain take place they should make a recovery. Once its reached the brain not only has the virus thoroughly saturated the host, but the brain damage will be irreversible. At this point the virus will be almost impossible to combat even with the new WBCs.
Renegade13:I think there might be a cure if it's a virus.
Tacticalplanner: If it is a virus, then a new super-cure being developed could be used. Some research complex is developing an anti-virus that rips the thing apart by rupturing the cell membrane in a few billion places at once. The only way to evolve to defeat it would be to harden the membrane enough, but that would be the equivalent of men developing bullet-proof skin. Nice, huh? It was in a Popular Science a few months back.
Gladimnotdaonly1: Recently I came across some info about a new dialysis machine. If it is a viral infection, this new machine will fight off the infection for a while. Basically it filters your entire blood system in a few hours. Giving you more time. It's a start. I've been working on more theories, but without a genetic reference it would be a shot in the dark. So far my focuses are on mutations of different diseases, parasitic and cerebral related diseases or damage. I've been looking in every direction I can. I have a little background in genetics, neurology, and microbiology. With my ever-growing knowledge, I'm collecting as much useful data as possible. So fret not, I'm working on it.
Putsleadinzombiehead: Just remember that if there is a cure, you will need to administer said cure before the body rots to the point that the human will die anyway, just something little to remember.
See also:
- Deteriorating tissue impacts
- First Signs of a zombie bite
- First signs of a zombie outbreak
- Why hunt the living?
- Motor Skills
- Nonhuman Infection
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- Psychological effects on the living
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- Origin of the Zombie
- How are zombies created?
- How a zombie virus could arise
- Celestial Events
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| Gladimnotdaonly1 | Going out on a limb here | 5 | Aug 23 2008, 9:03 PM EDT by NoxTerran | |
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Thread started: Aug 23 2008, 5:56 AM EDT
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There are no set rules to what this will or will not be. It could be possible that if infected the person will not die, just become a "zombie" on the basis that it hungers for flesh and doesn't function like a normal person. There will most likely be brain damage, but there is also the chance that whatever takes over the humanity will be organic and completely reversible. Think of it like mold. Opinions? please
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| woody100 | aids could be the cure? | 3 | Aug 11 2008, 10:55 PM EDT by MattThePossum | |
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Thread started: Aug 11 2008, 1:20 PM EDT
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just a random thought but i really know nothing on the subject
if the zombie virus destroys the immune system if u injected a zombie with aids virus would the aids kill the zombification? or would it just leave you with a dead aids victim. |
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| Emperor_of_the_Nerds | If its a virus... | 0 | Jul 23 2008, 2:13 AM EDT by Emperor_of_the_Nerds | |
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Thread started: Jul 23 2008, 2:13 AM EDT
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then a vaccine would probably come first then you would find some of the virus in a vaccinated person and use that to study for a cure but basically there would probably be a large time period before the discovery of a vaccine then an even longer time after that for a cure and chances are the cure would have to be administered in the first stages of infection otherwise halfway dead you'll be braindead
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| Zyzzogeton | Cure could be possible | 0 | Jul 1 2008, 8:54 PM EDT by Zyzzogeton | |
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Thread started: Jul 1 2008, 8:54 PM EDT
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If you cure he person before they go into complete zombification. Supposing that it is a virus it would alter your brain to fit it's habitat so you couldn't revive the person. But you could make them a reverse-zombie, or in other words give them a virus that makes their brain human. But then they would have no memory of their past lives because that z-virus would destroy their memory to make room to program in zombie instincts, such as biting humans and morphing the organs to be powered by blood.
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| CiberZSlayer | my ummm cure idea | 0 | Jun 8 2008, 2:58 AM EDT by CiberZSlayer | |
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Thread started: Jun 8 2008, 2:58 AM EDT
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you could make a chemical or smepin that kills all cells infected with virus if its the slow kind that takes abought a day befor you die/reanimate then aplication within an hour and a blood transfusion could mean you only drop a few iq points
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