Day 235 – Zombiology 101: Scratches & Life Cycles

During the trash compactor breach, Jennifer received some pretty nasty scratches that did break her skin. We did all the standard things. We placed her in quarantine and put her under armed guard… just in case. After 24 hours, she was showing no signs of infection and the wounds were actually starting to show signs of healing.

I think it is safe to say that scratches from zoms will not spread the virus. It seems as if the Kharon Virus is only transferred through fluid contact. So, hey, we got that going for us.

Still, don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security. If they are close enough to scratch you, you got big problems. But how long does the virus remain “alive” since it inhabits dead people?

I am by no means a doctor but parasites don’t live long inside dead hosts. If the host dies, the parasite dies. Cancer doesn’t continue to chew and eat at a body after it has passed away, correct? Are viruses the same way? If a person has a communicable disease, once they die, does that disease die with them?

Obviously, the rules for Kharon are different because this disease inhabits a dead body. Regardless of how long either that reanimated zombie or the zombie with his skull caved in has been lying there, we assume that their blood is capable of transmitting the disease.

Consider this scenario. You are moving a brain-panned body of a zom. You cut your finger on a shard of jagged bone and get a drop of zombie blood inside you. You are now infected. 48-hours and you are a goner.

We are assuming that hot enough temperatures that boil away fluids will destroy the virus. But is Kharon just a kickstarter or is it the virus that is keeping these things up and around?  

Say, for instance, the government comes along with an aerosol agent that kills the Kharon Virus. They fly a crop duster plane over a shambling horde releasing the agent. Do the zoms return to their “normal state” and just drop dead, becoming inanimate bodies? Does the Kharon Virus keep them sustained and up and moving around? Or did Kharon just kickstart that brain and now it is active until destroyed?

This is the part that sucks about not having any real information. I guess eventually, if we see C-130s flying overhead dispersing purple clouds of aerosol medicine, we can know. Until then, I think everyone is just satisfied to keep the zoms as far away from us as possible.

You guys do the same.