Are Zombies Real?

Story by John Moore

The popular culture and Hollywood model of the zombie (being the recently dead walking the Earth) is highly unlikely. More likely is some kind of infection (also seen recently in film) that affects a large portion of the population. A virus, parasite, bacteria, fungus, prion – whetever, that has the ability to turn the infected into some kind of homicidal, even cannibalistic being is not just possible, but likely. This article shows 5 different zombie infection vectors, but is by no means exhaustive.

In the television series, The Walking Dead, (and we’ve read some but not all of the books), it seems like the infection is something that completely takes over the central nervous system to the point where it can reanimate a corpse.