Aha!!!

I think I figured it out!!! Living people have Amylase in their mouths, but the dead DON'T! Zombies don't eat any carbohydrates!!! So.. the "bacterium" and the "virus" are one and the same (so I'll just say virus). The presence of Amylase keeps the living alive by keeping the virus dormant. Once the person dies, the virus becomes active, and as all viruses, seeks to spread itsself... in this case through a bite.

Ok, ok, so I guess I'm agreeing with you But the entire zombie virus must only be found in the mouth and brain, not in the body tissues.. at least not in any contagious form.

 

So, I have to rename the zombie virus umm.. (First, if it's a virus, antibiotics won't work anyway.. so the antibiotic resistance is a moot point)

APRV Amylase-Phobic Reanimation Virus


Sweet! And that portion of the population that doesn't produce Amylase, well, they were the ones to succumb to the virus at the outset.

 

*Sinking feeling*

But, if this APRV cannot be active in the presence of a living host, and "we're all infected", then how would the bite be more virulent than what people already have.

*Sigh* Has to be two pathogens. Zombie virus (turns the dead doesn't kill the living), and Bite virus/bacteria (kills the living).

Sorry for hijacking the thread!

 

Actually, I liked your idea of a solar flare better. Some form of external energy blanketing the earth that changes the shape of some protein or alters susceptible DNA, etc. How else do you describe there not being a site of origin that the pathogen originated from? Saying it's from a cosmic event allows the change to happen everywhere at once, and a side effect of this could be a diminished capacity to fight off certain pathogens, like those in the mouth, etc.

 

Ok, new idea:

Assuming zombie virus and bite virus are one and the same.. maybe the living person is getting the virus through the nose/mouth/skin.. some way that the living body can handle the virus and keep it dormant. As soon as the virus is introduced through an unusual means (in the blood and muscle), the system cannot respond to "deactivate" the virus, allowing the virus to overwhelm the body and kill it.

But, the virus is only harbored in the brain and mouth.. that's why zombie blood is not lethal.

EDRV... Enzyme Deactivated Reanimation Virus

And again, people naturally deficient in that enzyme (or immune function.. whatever is deactivating the virus) would have been the first wave of zombies.

I do really like the idea of a celestial source of the virus.. it's true that would be a quick way to infect the whole planet at once.

 

It doesn't have to be two pathogens. It can be one pathogen, that we all carry, and which mutates upon death of the host, becoming the actively infectious form that passes in a bite and kills.

 

Yes, this is still what I mean. The new pathogen could be some prion-like form that occurred due to a natural event like a solar flare. Then it mutates further upon death of the host.

 

I get what you're saying.. seems like a really complex pathogen though. One beast in a living host, and a completely different one in a dead host.

I guess I prefer pathogens to maintain their characteristics, and so their behavior has to be modified not by themselves but by their environment.

 

It wouldn't have to really be a very complex mutation. All that would really have to happen is that the mutation would allow it to cross the blood brain barrier. The one that lives in all of us doesn't cross it. When we die of natural causes, our bbb breaks down, it leaks to the brain, and reanimates us. Something about it coming into contact with our brains mutates it into a form which can now cross another survivors bbb. This form passes in a bite, crosses the bite victims bbb, reacts with surface receptors on brain cells, causing fever, death, and again reanimation.

 

Where ever this pathogen came from, or how ever it mutates. I does not infect all living creatures. There has to be something in humans, that makes it mutate.

 

Like the old saying goes, "the simplest explanation is probably the correct one."

 

Thank you for posting the Previews and peeks...

Off topic discussion. The simplest explanation is that thangs changed, you get bit, you die. You kill or you die, or you die then kill. I want to see zombies on the international space station. You know a zombie (floater) could be floating in space. perhaps that is how this planet became infected, space walkers.

 

Thanks for the discussion Neuro. It really got my juices flowing, and I think we can just agree to disagree (on what is probably a minor point). Now I have a solid theory (both for 1 virus or 2) and perhaps as the show goes on we'll see more examples that could help prove/disprove our respective theories.

As for why animals aren't affected, many, if not most pathogens are host-specific.. so yes, people have something in them that the pathogen is attracted to.

 

How can it be in only the brain and mouth when people die from scratches? Although- have we actually seen anyone die from a scratch?

 

Perhaps the walkers eat on their own fingers...

 

I watched an episode from an earlier season recently where they would cut their hand to attract the walkers with blood so they could stab them with the same knife. Doesnt make sense to do with walker "instincts" established later, being attracted to living from far away by sight or sound. They didnt seem concerned they might get something from the knife used to kill walkers.

 

I agree. Seems to me they have been playing fast and loose with the zombie blood from very early on. The characters have never been concerned about it and no one has ever gotten sick from it. I don't think they can try to change that now. It has been a pet peeve of mine for quite awhile.

 

Not sure if anyone knew this but there are actual parasites that turn their hosts into virtual zombies throughout the animal kingdom.

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/parasites-turn-their-hosts-zombies

I saw it on a show and decided to study a bit further and came into this article. Perhaps, TWD isnʻt so much science fiction as we once thought?

 

You're so silly <3

 

Technically, we've never actually seen anybody die from a scratch. Rick and Shane speculated that those walkers from season 2 died from scratches, but we've never actually seen infection start that way.