• Question: Could there ever be Zombies??????????

    Asked by to Ramya, Peter, Keith, Hannah, Bethany on 13 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Bethany Dearlove

      Bethany Dearlove answered on 13 Jun 2014:


      I think this depends on the definition of zombie. In the sense of reanimating the dead, I think it’s probably highly unlikely. However, I think it could be possible to have living people in a zombie-like state – maybe due to some sort of infection in the brain. Either way, I’d suggest checking out this leaflet by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the US, just to ensure you’re prepared: http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/documents/11_225700_A_Zombie_Final.pdf

    • Photo: Peter Elliott

      Peter Elliott answered on 15 Jun 2014:


      To my knowledge zombies do not currently exist so you can either sleep easy or be upset that your preparations for world war z are not going to be rewarded.

      I did remember an article I read years ago that was the closet thing to zombie behaviour.
      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4683903.stm
      In the latter parts of the sleeping sickness disease people were described as being in zombie like states; inability to talk, can’t do simple tasks and become irrational as the disease enters the brain.

    • Photo: Hannah Tanner

      Hannah Tanner answered on 16 Jun 2014:


      Bethany and Peter have given really good answers.
      I don’t think we will ever be able to bring people who are really dead back to being the living dead. Once our cells break down that’s it!

    • Photo: Keith Grehan

      Keith Grehan answered on 16 Jun 2014:


      Agree with the other answers, I doubt we have to worry about the dead coming back to life but if you were an ant you would definitely have a lot more to worry about.
      There are a number of species of fungus that infect ant species in the tropics once infected the ants effectively become completely controlled by the fungus. They stop working for the colony and instead leave the colony and move to forest floor, where the conditions are perfect for the fungus to grow. Thankfully these fungus only effect very specific species and they don’t seem to infect even other ant species, so we are quite safe.

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