The infection

[Ataaka]

If you look carefully, there are several types of dead. Here are some good theories that support the different looks:

1. Was already dead - Risen from the grave/morgue/etc...
2. Died from Infection - Perhaps bitten
3. Died from trauma - Gunshot, injuries, etc...
4. Died from natural causes - old age, other common illness/disease

These are just a few ideas.

[Fezzan]

In TWD the problem is the brain when you get shot in the head you don't turn, so it seems when you die you come back since you have the infection(like everyone).
As for being bitten the infection spreads from where you were bitten to the brain making you a zombie.
From what I can work out anyways.

[Master of Aeons]

Originally Posted by Bcroft

In the first season of the walking dead when they chopped up the one zombie and wiped it on rick and glenn, he mentions not to get it in you eyes or open wounds, but I do agree with your point on how it would get in there mouth when there getting gruesome

Rick's not an expert on the subject, he's just being safe. He's wrong when he says that, because we see zombie blood in everyone's mouth later and in their eyes. Kirkman's dismissal of that being problematic seems to imply that there isn't a disease to transmit through fluids.

Everyone reanimates despite the way they die (save brain trauma), bites infect a wound and kill because of their diseased nature. If fluids were a problem, Kirkman would have covered it and nixed it happening in the show.

[Cyreen]

Originally Posted by Master of Aeons

...bites infect a wound and kill because of their diseased nature.

This is what happens when you don't brush and floss.

[Master of Aeons]

Originally Posted by Cyreen

This is what happens when you don't brush and floss.

But a Winterfresh mouth tastes MUCH MUCH COOLER!

[Pellet]

Just a quick thout...
How do we know the whole worlds infected? From what ive seen from the game and show (havnt read the comics and dont really plan on it) they havnt even been outside Georgia.

Kenny came from florida, but thats right next to Georgia.

Also ive wondered IF the virus was only in America it could be a form of biological warfare?

It would be cool to see how other countries dealed with this.

[Mafon2]

Originally Posted by Pellet

Just a quick thout...
How do we know the whole worlds infected?...

It'd be ridiculously funny to acknowledge that the other world's o.k. Or that the «virus» works only in specific (area of few «cursed») states. (Like those are built upon old indian burrial grounds)

[Master of Aeons]

Originally Posted by Pellet

Just a quick thout...
How do we know the whole worlds infected? From what ive seen from the game and show (havnt read the comics and dont really plan on it) they havnt even been outside Georgia.

It's covered. The comic doesn't leave the United States, but they've traveled through many infected states. It's at least national in the comics. In the show, they even talk about it being a global problem in the first season finale and say that France was one of the last holdouts. Everyone has the same story, the military falls apart and zombies win, leaving only pockets of humanity, like the Prison, Washington and Woodbury.

[LadyJ]

Originally Posted by TrueXus

Man, I've been wondering this also, I cringe every time I watch the show and see all of that zombie juice all over them.

Me too. It seems awfully inconsistent to me. Frankly I thought they were just getting really sloppy about it. Seems like the show has decided to up the gore factor.

But really, didn't Jim get a scratch that made him turn? I've been watching how they all do this major amount of mutilating, get blood everywhere and don't seem to consider it. Then we have the tender moment with Glenn checking Maggie for scratches. I call bullshit. Just in day to day living, they are bound to have scratches on them from how they survive. If nothing else, hand callouses and blisters that if contacted with walker blood SHOULD turn them.

It's inconsistent.

[JamesM98]

Do scratches definitely cause the infection?

I thought they attributed scratches to spreading the infection because they hadn't realised people were turning because everyone was already infected and just assumed scratching caused it?

I'm sure there was a few points in the TV series, Randalls death for instance, were someone would say 'I don't see any bite marks' on a Walker and someone else (usually Glen), would say 'Maybe they got scratched?'

Are there any instances of someone dying purely because of a scratch? Maybe in the comics?

Someone said Jim died of a scratch, but he was bitten in the stomach?

[LadyJ]

I don't think the scratches cause the infection but the open area being contaminated by the walker is likely introducing the infection that kills into the bloodstream.

So if you have a scratch of any kind walker or non walker, and you get walker blood on it, I'm thinking it should make you turn just because it gets into the bloodstream. That's why the amputation if done quickly enough is supposed to help. As long as the infection chain isn't allowed to keep going through the body they shouldn't turn. (until they die)

[servantofoni]

it could just very well be a brain virus the brain stops functioning you die virus takes over

[Saoralba131]

Originally Posted by HiggsBoson2142

I've heard it's undead saliva that does it, but that still doesn't make up for the fact you can get infected from scratches too.

SPOILER FROM THE COMIC COMING UP!

I borrowed them from a friend a while ago,but just to be sure you must have read to atleast Volume 8 or issue 43!





Okay,if you are still reading at somepoint The Governor kisses Penny (His brother's daughter) the exchange of saliva does nothing to him,so that is out of the question.

[Master of Aeons]

Yes. Fluids mix all the damn time. It means nothing. I also think the "scratch theory" was only early guesswork by confused characters trying to come to terms with the puzzle. No one has died because of scratches. (Jim was bitten on his lower body.) But everyone is probably scratched a lot. They pin down zombies, bull rush them, etc. With all the close calls, I'm sure there's been a few overlooked scratches that haven't mattered. But the cross contamination of fluids happens all the time and it is purposefully ignored.

There is no disease. The rules for contamination don't reflect an infection. Occam's Razor states that the simplest explanation is the right one. So if virus can only be explained by adding crazy twists to the plot, it's probably wrong. Hence, magic, the craziest theory, is probably the right one.

[Sméagol]

Just played all 4 episodes a few days ago, and this was indeed the big question I had. I was wondering if the comics had an explanation, I haven’t read them (or watched the television series, so I should be careful around here ).

I did read a possible explanation on another forum.

It speculated something about the “zombie virus” being dormant, untill you die, then it gets active, and you turn. The problem with a zombie bite would be, that a zombie already has an activated virus, and you’d get an active virus in your bloodstream because of the bite, so you’d turn while alive. Seemed plausible to me, but again, I’m no expert on the walking dead universe, or zombie virusses in general .

[Pellet]

Originally Posted by Saoralba131

SPOILER FROM THE COMIC COMING UP!

I borrowed them from a friend a while ago,but just to be sure you must have read to atleast Volume 8 or issue 43!





Okay,if you are still reading at somepoint The Governor kisses Penny (His brother's daughter) the exchange of saliva does nothing to him,so that is out of the question.

Just curious, dont care about comic spoilers no more since i just watch the show/game. but when you say he kisses penny, do you mean intimately or like a uncle would kiss his niece?
cause damn somebody frawking their deceased niece is pretty much as frawked up as it gets.

[HelloCthulhu]

Originally Posted by Pellet

Just curious, dont care about comic spoilers no more since i just watch the show/game. but when you say he kisses penny, do you mean intimately or like a uncle would kiss his niece?
cause damn somebody frawking their deceased niece is pretty much as frawked up as it gets.

he gave her tongue.