How long would you last in a zombie apocalypse? This question is a frequently asked ice breaker. My response is simple, I hope I die before a zombie apocalypse ever happens because that's quite literally my worst fear. At least zombies aren’t real and that would never happen, right? Wrong. It turns out zombie-ism is a possible phenomena due to the prevalence of lyssavirus, or more commonly known as rabies. Rabies is a disease that can be spread among both humans and animals. Rabies infections emerge the same way zombies do, with a simple bite. It’s spread when contaminated saliva comes in contact with broken skin or mucous membranes. The virus causes inflammation of the central nervous system. More specifically, it travels up to the brain and starts to replicate. From the brain, it spreads to the salivary gland into the saliva. This mechanism effectively grants zombies the ability to go on and infect more people. Although the means of transmission of rabies doesn’t definitively prove its connection to zombies, the symptoms of both diseases are oddly similar. Rabies patients experience anxiety, confusion, and agitation. As the virus progresses, it can cause hallucinations, delirium, and abnormal behavior.
However, unlike zombies, there is some hope for rabies victims. If the virus is caught before it reaches the spinal cord, its effects can be reversed. You can get the rabies vaccine and immune globulin, which help you fight off the rabies infection. Unfortunately for zombies, no such treatment exists. However, both rabies and zombie bites are considered fatal. At least with rabies, there’s a chance to reverse the effects and survive with medications. I think we need to be diligent when it comes to zombie-like infections and start targeting these viruses now before an apocalypse (also known as an epidemic) emerges. Be safe this holiday season and avoid family members who may be foaming at the mouth.
https://www.cdc.gov/rabies/index.html
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/rabies
https://www.merckmanuals.com/home/brain,-spinal-cord,-and-nerve-disorders/brain-infections/rabies
I've been looking into lyssavirus and there is a question that comes to mind. After looking at a post about rabies on mayoclinic.org, I am wondering if there is any effective treatment for rabies once the infection takes hold. Mayoclinic states that "once the disease is established there is no effective treatment" and that the "disease usually causes death." So, do the effects of the rabies shots only work if they are taken before it reaches the spinal cord? How do you test to see if lyssavirus has reached the spinal cord? Along with this I would ask if once the virus is past the spinal cord and there becomes a lack of hope in rescuing the individual, would it be more ethically right to keep them contained and wait for the disease to kill them? Or would it be better to essentially (and I wish I had kinder terms for this) "put them out of their misery"? I find rabies and the effects it can have on people extremely interesting; I was just curious about some of the ideas that go along with it.
ReplyDelete