I think she was a concubine . I think she got bitten trying to escape . She apparently committed suicide by opening her wounds

 

She escaped, and they went and found her. When Dawn is on the exercise bike she says to Noah "Don't worry, we'll find Joan". She got bit while on the run. She was a concubine, and was 'owned' by Gorman. Gorman says "don't worry, I'll get Joan back". Beth asks Joan "what did he do to you?". She meant Gorman. Later, Joan killed herself with the scissors. Probably they kept sharp objects out of the patient's rooms, so Joan when to Dawn's office to find something sharp.

 

Joan opens up another interesting question though. She got bit while on the run, so even if she was bitten just seconds before the cops caught her, it would have been several minutes, if not longer, before her arm was cut off. The time it took to bring her back to the building, up to that floor, etc. Yet the amputation seemed to work. This was likely more of an error than anything else, but if these facts are canon, then it tells us something about treating bites. You can still amputate after a fair amount of time has gone by. In fact, if the infection travelled that slowly, this tells us that it may even be possible to treat a wound without amputation. Just by cutting away the wounded tissue itself, possibly saving the limb if the wound was positioned fortunately. But, In reality, who would want to risk it? If it was me, i'd probably just say go ahead and cut the arm off anyway. But, it could come in handy if you've already had one arm amputated and you're bitten in the other arm. . In that case, i'd rather have just the wound cut out if possible.

 

I believe she killed herself in Dawns office so her walker form would attack, and hopefully bite Dawn.

 

Where'd she stab herself? Or was it just all the bleeding from opening the wound that killed her?

 

Comic spoilers

 

The comics aren't canon, but we don't really know how

. But yeah, it would depend on a lot of things.

 

I know they are not the canon, but it's interesting to think about it, though. It's hard to say we're going to get answers to those questions one day.

 

They didn't actually say she got bit...maybe she just cut her arm trying to escape?

 

I doubt they are treating cuts with amputation.

 

it definitely looked like a bite wound and they wouldn't have cut it off otherwise. as far as the bite itself - remember that the zombies do not transmit any kind of virus or anything like that when they bite you - its simply the infection from poor zombie hygiene that kills people. so, with that being said, i'd imagine that there are zombies that carry a lot more bacteria than others, based purely on how long they have been zombies. id even venture to say that by that logic, a bite from a recently turned zombie may not even be deadly. I think it would be the same as a human bite in reality.

 

Was she was alive long enough after the amputation to really make a determination that she would not have died from the bite/infection anyway?

 

Her killing herself in Dawn's office was definitely a personal move, because you could see she was leaving behind some message on the floor before she died. She could have killed herself anywhere, but she chose Dawn's office as a big "**** you" to remind Dawn that her blood is on her hands, she's responsible for her making that decision.

 

Jim took a long time to turn. This is evidence that there is a window of opportunity. Obviously there is a difference between a bite on the trunk vs. an extremituy. Given the choice I would probably ask to have my limb sawn off. Then again I'm not living Joan's life.

 

What if someone is immune? How do you figure that out?

 

Well, time it takes to turn might have no reflection on how fast the 'virus' spreads through the body. A virus can spread through your bloodstream in seconds, but you may not show symptoms for days or weeks, if ever.

As for immunity, I think the answer lies in the math. In the world they have painted, immunity must be extremely, extremely rare, if it exists at all. This is because of the low survival rate. Only about 1 in 5000 people are alive. Sure, some died from accidents, or natural deaths, or fighting people like Joe and the Governor, but the vast majority would have died from walker bites. Some of them would have been torn apart by walkers, or died from blood loss from large bites, but many people would have been bitten, then got away, and later died from the bite. Even if 1/100 of those people were immune and survived, those people would greatly outnumber the type of survivor we see on the show, which is people who have never been bitten at all. The fact that we've met over 100 survivors and never heard a story of someone who was bitten and survived, would mathematically mean that an immunity would exist far less than 1 in millions of people. As for figuring it out, it would be difficult in their situation, unless someone was bitten and didn't turn.

 

It's a lose lose sitch here. Anyone who gets bitten is going to be put down, or a limb will be amputated. There's not really an opportunity here for scientific evaluation. Who's your control group?

I'll just continue to build my immune system by forgoing antibiotics and antibacterials. Let's play in the dirt.

 

Well, in this world you don't need a control group to increase your understanding. The first time you found someone who wanted you to try just cutting out the wounded area instead of amputation, you'd have some new information. And if they survived, and didn't turn, you'd have a new conclusion. There's still plenty of room for science. Adapted science.