Do you think zombie/zombie-ish pandemic is possible?...

[Big Boar]

I've been thinking.. a terrifying virus is made because of mixture of animal germs on a market, if this happened it's also possible for another terrifying virus to be made, perhaps turning a human mindless that eats anyone they see. Also there are already zombified animals I read because of a parasite, I think it's wasp. Do you think the Zombie-like is possible to happen?

[RuthisianCodex]

1 hour ago, Big Boar said:

I've been thinking.. a terrifying virus is made because of mixture of animal germs on a market, if this happened it's also possible for another terrifying virus to be made, perhaps turning a human mindless that eats anyone they see. Also there are already zombified animals I read because of a parasite, I think it's wasp. Do you think the Zombie-like is possible to happen?

I sure as heck hope not but there is no way to absolutely rule something like that out. On top of the parasitic zombie viruses in animals, there are also synthetic drugs like flakka that makes people completely lose their minds & attack others. 

[Illusion of Terra]

in theory I don't see why it wouldn't be possible. engineering viruses for specific purposes is already possible. parasites such as trematodes who 'remote control' their hosts have been around for millennia as well, for example Dicrocoelium dendriticum who makes ants climb on top of leaves so that they are ingested by sheep in order to spread inside the sheep. there are tons of others, some of which are listed here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-altering_parasite

if you really wanted to you would make sure that the virus multiplies in some organ or part of the body which doesn't have or affect pain receptors, so that people don't notice it, but still are easy to spread, so that as many people as possible get infected without knowing. later stages of the virus or parasite could then lead to the behavior you want. the biggest thing speaking against it right now is that we don't know enough about brain circuits in order to engineer a virus or parasite in a way as to lead people to bite other people (spread through saliva would be quite easy though). it is not difficult to engineer one so as to make people more aggressive (this is the case in rabies for example), but specifically leading them to bite others is something I don't think is possible right now. simply wanting to bite things might be more realistic, but biting other animals or humans specifically is another thing.

So yeah, in theory it seems possible (you could also engineer a virus that only kills certain kinds of people, such as a specific 'race' with a certain genetic code), but I think a more realistic threat would be some kind of AI who coerces people in different ways.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Illusion of Terra

[cowboy]

i don't think so, not in the way that you're probably thinking.

the closest that comes to it is Prion diseases, which is probably what inspired zombies. like mad cow disease.

but they don't make you hunger for flesh or anything, they just rot your brain, and the disease can also spread through saliva or eating infected tissue.

there is a prion disease that's at risk mutating to spread to the human population and could kill a lot of people who eat unregulated hunted meat, because of wasting disease, and a LOT of people hunt deer for food, so you'd see a lot of people dying from symptoms that might seem zombie-like to you, which is why it's so important to monitor the spread of that one and have meat tested.

unless a prion disease somehow mutated to attack the brain AND another tissue that would make it more contagious, like coughing up the virus everywhere you go like a respiratory infection combined with it eating away at your brain causing those "zombie-like" symptoms, but they're isolated to the brain and can only spread to people through direct contact of bodily fluids like consuming the meat. you can catch it from bites, but prion diseases do such devastating damage to your brain that the window that animals are capable of spreading it through aggression and biting is small, because they're incapacitated and die in a short period of time. they slowly become paralyzed, can do nothing but shamble around because they've lost all sense of balance and orientation, and eventually lay there to die. just stay away from animals that are acting strangely or appear to be sick, report it to local authorities so they can dispose of it, and don't eat any unregulated meat without having it tested first.

Edited April 3, 2020 by cowboy

[Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷNeoNƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ]

I call it a cellphone.