How realistic is a zombie apocalypse?
Well, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation recently answered that question:
With Halloween fast approaching, it seems like zombies are everywhere. Whether you caught the bug from The Walking Dead or World War Z, its hard to steer clear of these shambling, flesh-hungry monsters. And believe it or not, part of the zombie myth is rooted in biomedical science.
There are quasi-scientific roots to almost all of your classic monsters, said Dr. Stephen Prescott, OMRF president. And zombies are no exception.
In movies, TV and popular fiction, zombies were once people who were transformed by a horribly mutatedand contagiousvirus or parasite. Considering recent scares over both avian and swine flu, said Prescott, that might not seem so far-fetched.
In fact, said Prescott, a disease called African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, shares some traits of a zombie infection. A parasite called Trypanosoma brucei is delivered in the bite of a tsetse fly. After initially causing headache, fever, joint pain and itching, the parasite invades the brain, where it disrupts the sleep cycle and triggers confusion, tremors and paralysis.
http://newsok.com/zombies-scientist-says-maybe/article/3897394
Well, the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation recently answered that question:
With Halloween fast approaching, it seems like zombies are everywhere. Whether you caught the bug from The Walking Dead or World War Z, its hard to steer clear of these shambling, flesh-hungry monsters. And believe it or not, part of the zombie myth is rooted in biomedical science.
There are quasi-scientific roots to almost all of your classic monsters, said Dr. Stephen Prescott, OMRF president. And zombies are no exception.
In movies, TV and popular fiction, zombies were once people who were transformed by a horribly mutatedand contagiousvirus or parasite. Considering recent scares over both avian and swine flu, said Prescott, that might not seem so far-fetched.
In fact, said Prescott, a disease called African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness, shares some traits of a zombie infection. A parasite called Trypanosoma brucei is delivered in the bite of a tsetse fly. After initially causing headache, fever, joint pain and itching, the parasite invades the brain, where it disrupts the sleep cycle and triggers confusion, tremors and paralysis.
http://newsok.com/zombies-scientist-says-maybe/article/3897394
