[icomputergeek]

After last week's episode it's clear that everyone already has this "disease" in them and you don't have to be bitten or scratched to become a walker. You die, you're automatically a walker. Now my question is, if the group comes across another Doctor that's aware about this phenomenon do you think Lori's baby might be the solution to a cure? He/she might be immune to whatever disease has taken over people's bodies.
Now I know in the comics that

Spoiler

Lori and her baby die.

but the show does like to change some scenes into their own.

[cmw43]

I don't really see how it would change much at all, it's not gonna stop them getting turn apart by hordes of zombies and with so few survivors left I don't think it matters if they zombify after death or not now they know you can just destroy the brain.

[Creeper]

Nah, I think the baby would be infected just like everyone else.  Besides, I'm not convinced this is something that anyone could develop antibodies to.  I think it is super far-fetched, and I would really laugh if that was their big cure. Also, aren't babies immunities generally just an immunity passed on from their mothers? I don't think they randomly develop their own immunities. Could be wrong!

[CisMe]

I don't see how or why her particular baby would be the cure.  Though possible since there's a lot we don't know.  I'm kind of a twisted person, and really hate how just about all movies or books end the same, or follow the same pattern, good guy wins blah blah....I think it would be really different and macabre, since everyone seems to be a carrier of some sort,  if Lori loses the baby and it eats and infects her from the inside.  Sorry if that offends anyone, just would be a unique twist of events IMO

[Maka523]

I'd hate for that to happen.  Can you imagine what that would do for Lori's sense of self importance?

[BigEd]

Creeper, on 18 March 2012 - 02:31 PM, said:

Nah, I think the baby would be infected just like everyone else.  Besides, I'm not convinced this is something that anyone could develop antibodies to.  I think it is super far-fetched, and I would really laugh if that was their big cure. Also, aren't babies immunities generally just an immunity passed on from their mothers? I don't think they randomly develop their own immunities. Could be wrong!

There are cases of Mothers being HIV/AIDS positive and a baby being born negative.
Life is extraordinary, nature finds a way. Especially when a virus obliterates the very host which sustains it.

There can be a cure for the living/recently bitten, but there is not one for curing death.

[DeadCave]

You have a good idea there about it... possible since it's the same scenario that Stephen King introduced with pre-plague vs post-plague pregnant mothers where pre-mothers were immune but the fathers weren't and post-mothers where both parents are immune.

BigEd, on 18 March 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

There are cases of Mothers being HIV/AIDS positive and a baby being born negative.
Life is extraordinary, nature finds a way. Especially when a virus obliterates the very host which sustains it.

There can be a cure for the living/recently bitten, but there is not one for curing death.

Agreed that the only cure that the people can hope for is an immediate immunization after a bite. It would mean everyone carrying around emergency dosage and injectors (kinda like what some diabetics use) so that if they survive an attack, they can inject themselves with the cure to prevent the fever/infection that would kill them (via, Jim and Amy among quite a few). If they're dead then they're dead and will re-animate anyway unless the brain is destroyed.

Hmm... (thinks to himself... light-bulb).

[swordhandler]

Even if the baby was immune and could cure the group, how would they find out? They would need advanced medical equipment and a team of trained professionals. Would it involve a vaccine? If so, how would they get that from the baby?

[Hannah]

CisMe, on 18 March 2012 - 03:53 PM, said:

I think it would be really different and macabre, since everyone seems to be a carrier of some sort,  if Lori loses the baby and it eats and infects her from the inside.  Sorry if that offends anyone, just would be a unique twist of events IMO

I would so pay to see that. Cool 👍

[Barry Cade]

The BBC drama, Survivors, alluded to this sort of immunity for two of its key characters. Unfortunately, the series was canned, despite covering a lot of the ground TWD has covered minus: zombies.

Interestingly, the original Survivors series back in the '70s, which I seem to recall back when I were but a nipper and all this were fields, was written by Terry Nation who had rather a lot to do with Dr Who.

If a character were to be immune, I think massive props would need to go to M.C. Terry Nation direct from D.J AMC.

Edited by Barry Cade, 23 March 2012 - 10:08 AM.

[Major Tom]

Barry Cade, on 23 March 2012 - 10:08 AM, said:

The BBC drama, Survivors, alluded to this sort of immunity for two of its key characters. Unfortunately, the series was canned, despite covering a lot of the ground TWD has covered minus: zombies.

Interestingly, the original Survivors series back in the '70s, which I seem to recall back when I were but a nipper and all this were fields, was written by Terry Nation who had rather a lot to do with Dr Who.

If a character were to be immune, I think massive props would need to go to M.C. Terry Nation direct from D.J AMC.

Survivors was right up there with Dr Who for me. I was pissed when they canceled.

Reminding me makes me mad all over.

[Barry Cade]

Major Tom, on 23 March 2012 - 05:55 PM, said:

Survivors was right up there with Dr Who for me. I was pissed when they canceled.

Reminding me makes me mad all over.

So, you're 100% mad. I hope you don't get killed, because with that RAGE filled body, you'll turn within minutes.

[Xfirekeenmike]

BigEd, on 18 March 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

There are cases of Mothers being HIV/AIDS positive and a baby being born negative.

A baby can be born negative to the HIV/AIDS does not make the baby immune and with cure.

[Deadpelican]

I think it would be too much of a sci-fi cliche.   Did you ever see that miniseries from the 1980s called "V?" It's about earth being invaded by aliens and in the story, a baby is born that is half alien, half human and her DNA holds the secret to defeating the aliens.  It was kind of cheesy. but somehow it worked back in the 80s. Not sure if something like that would work now.

Edited by Deadpelican, 23 March 2012 - 08:49 PM.

[President Merle]

It might kill the show for some people (but not me). Think about it:

A man just happens to awaken from a coma, to find out a zombie apocalypse has occurred during the time in which he was hospitalised. He just happens to find his wife, son, and best friend, after bumping into some survivors stuck on a roof. Now it turns out that his baby is immune, and carries a potential cure for them?

It just seems a little to coincidental for me...

[Shane FTW]

Cut it out of her and put her down

[Kikora]

A baby cannot be immune unless the mother carries antibodies. I have no idea where people get the idea that if the mother carries a disease, the child will become immune... it makes no sense. A baby relies exclusively on the mother's immune system in development and during breast feeding, because its own is extremely weak and unable to fight even very mild diseases.


Someone mentioned children being born to an HIV positive mother, and not having the disease themselves... But that's because the placenta blocks direct blood to blood transfer, not because of an immunity the child creates in embryo.

[BigEd]

Kikora, on 23 March 2012 - 11:25 PM, said:

A baby cannot be immune unless the mother carries antibodies. I have no idea where people get the idea that if the mother carries a disease, the child will become immune... it makes no sense. A baby relies exclusively on the mother's immune system in development and during breast feeding, because its own is extremely weak and unable to fight even very mild diseases.


Someone mentioned children being born to an HIV positive mother, and not having the disease themselves... But that's because the placenta blocks direct blood to blood transfer, not because of an immunity the child creates in embryo.

It is only speculation that the cure to a fictious virus that causes the dead to reanimate, may be new life itself. An offspring of two living infected organisms that create a new life being immune/carrying anti-bodies to prevent recently bitten living or living airborne infected from reanimating seems plausible... It's not my storyline.

[Kikora]

BigEd, on 24 March 2012 - 08:31 PM, said:

It is only speculation that the cure to a fictious virus that causes the dead to reanimate, may be new life itself. An offspring of two living infected organisms that create a new life being immune/carrying anti-bodies to prevent recently bitten living or living airborne infected from reanimating seems plausible... It's not my storyline.

I love playing devil's advocate on odd theories, but this is something that defies all medical knowledge, and is really quite cliche'. To begin, I don't think Lori was the only woman to get pregnant around the time of outbreak. If it was really so simple that any baby born after the apocalypse can cure them all, then you would have seen the military grabbing up pregnant women for testing. Secondly, immune systems don't work like that. Yes it is a fictional virus in a fictional world... but it does it in a sensible, traceable, and understandable way. It works in a way that actually makes sense when following medical science, so why in the world would they step away from that in order to create such a predictable way to cure the disease and completely ignore all we know about medicine?

Besides that, even if the baby does get antibodies from nowhere (A child's immune system relies on its parents, mostly the mother), that doesn't equal immunity. It just means that the body would be able to fight the infection. If ya'll know much about vaccines then you know there is what's called 'herd immunity', which directly correlates to how many people have to be vaccinated in order for immunity to hold true against infection. If it falls below that number, even those who have been vaccinated and are 'immune' can still contract the virus or a mutated form. That said, one baby in a world full of infected? That immune system would stand NO chance.