[LoriG]

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but I watched the episode last night and a trailer this morning for next weeks.

Michonne is at the prison gates, and surrounded by walkers. They can't smell her - great! But she has an open wound, and is covered in walker guts - she has touched the guts, then puts her hand to the wound. Surely there would be some contamination now? Is it really JUST scratches / bites directly from the Z's?

On a different subject - can't wait until next week! Really loving this series

[Rick's Hat]

I keep wondering about stuff like that.

I think the key to people turning is that they have to die. Do we even know if you just get a little scratch or small bite if they will turn ? Because everybody is infected, the key is the dying part. If a person dies of natural causes or whatever they will turn and if a Walker rips into you so that you die, you turn. But perhaps just a small scratch doesn't do anything to them.

Because the amount of Walker blood that gets on these people some has to be going in their mouth, in their eyes..etc...

[mosher]

The means of contracting an infection that kills is decided upon by the creators of the show. They have never said blood contamination is an issue and have shown frequently that it is not. Whether this makes sense or not isn't important, since it is also impossible for muscles to operate without blood flow but the walkers keep coming. In this world, blood contamination is just gross, but not deadly.

[Singlyme]

Perhaps it's only saliva that'll turn you while you're alive?

[ZombieGrrl2.0]

Im not sure even the creators of the series have that all worked out... People turn when they want them to. It's their show damnit... LOL

[Zprime]

The whole what turns you convo has started to take on the convo in Grimlins 2 that goes like this...

"Don't feed this after midnight."
"So what if their on a plane and while eating fly across timezones?"

It's making little sense cause one day it's this..and one day it's that. I mentioned in another thread I doubt anything will ever come about by it. I really do. I'm sticking with my theory that the writers will change and do whatever they want to suit the story and make it "cool". One of the main reasons I was fearful of Michonnes character to begin with. Alittle too superhuman but hey you gotta roll with the punches. In all honestly I'd expect some type of infection thou if you want test it out. Find a dead animal..cut yourself..and rub dead animal stuff on the wound and then get all sweaty and don't take a bath. I'd be curious what would happen thou would never do it. lol

But @ the end of the day brother you just gotta say..."ok show creators..I'm willing to say the dead are up and moving about. Ok you've got me there. So I'm willing to over look this..and that...oh and that..and this..then that again..oh and that some more."

Seriously sooner or later they run the risk of people tuning out. I've already talked to alot of people about these little moments where people are like...that makes no sense. Another prime example of this is the whole Walker that ate Lori whole. Such a great part..the whole her dying and Ricks reaction..but forever tainted by what we saw @ the end. Even people whos not hardcore into the show is calling them out on that one. Many more of these and their gonna lose the causal viewer thats bringing in the high ratings.

[mosher]

If nothing else, the laws of physics should apply. I can forgive a lot in a show with dead bodies walking around attacking people, but gravity should still work. They broke a law of physics when they crammed all of Lori into one walker stomach. He was bloated, but not even close to bloated enough to fit an adult woman inside. To be fair, they can always tell us the bones were around the corner. Dragging the body was silly, but at least obeyed the basic laws of physics.

[rvabrendan]

There hasn't been any evidence to suggest that walker guts/blood can turn somebody. The only concrete rules we have are bite = eventual turn.

Since everybody is already infected, why would the blood of an infected walker turn them?

If you want to boil it down to semantics, you could claim it's something in the 'saliva' of a walker (or, biter...maybe that name itself is a hint?)...

[DeadInDetroit]

There hasn't been any evidence to suggest that walker guts/blood can turn somebody. The only concrete rules we have are bite = eventual turn.

Since everybody is already infected, why would the blood of an infected walker turn them?

If you want to boil it down to semantics, you could claim it's something in the 'saliva' of a walker (or, biter...maybe that name itself is a hint?)...

Good call! If everyone is infected already, i dont see how walker blood would do anything... i mean its like someone having a disease an coming in contact with someones blood who has the same disease, they ALREADY have it, so what could happen?

were not even sure scratches doom you, yea i get the 2 security guards only had scratches but it was never 100% confirmed thats what they had died from, theres a million reasons those guards could have died...

[PleaseKillCarl]

Im not sure even the creators of the series have that all worked out... People turn when they want them to. It's their show damnit... LOL

I definitely agree with this! lol

[newkjuice]

Sorry if this has been mentioned already but I watched the episode last night and a trailer this morning for next weeks.

Michonne is at the prison gates, and surrounded by walkers. They can't smell her - great! But she has an open wound, and is covered in walker guts - she has touched the guts, then puts her hand to the wound. Surely there would be some contamination now? Is it really JUST scratches / bites directly from the Z's?

On a different subject - can't wait until next week! Really loving this series

I thought Kirkman explained that a bite (or severe scratch??) leads to infection, and eventually death. a walker bite is like the bite of a Komodo Dragon. It contains a lot of bacteria, which transfers directly to the victim and they end up dying (blood poisoning i guess). I agree with some posters, we dont know how severe a bite or scratch needs to be (i think the victim dies). Tiny was killed before we even got to know the soft butterball of a man that he is. He might have survived the scratch for all we know. We do know Jim died when he got bit.

[Zombsessed]

I think that as we already know, everybody is infected, so when you die, you turn. BUT, if you suffer a major wound (a bite or scratch) it kind of activates the disease and accelerates the death (fever, death, zombified revival). Maybe viruses entering Michone's wound would not be as many as that of bites and scratches, which will mean she will not get the fever and she will not die. I mean, it is like the viruses are not enough to ativate the wound. But you're right: the moment I saw Michonne placing her hands in the wound i was like "ARE YOU FREAKING NUTS?!"

[ncrivaro]

well maybe when the virus enters the blood stream is when it kills you. Like a bite. I suppose an open wound would work the same way? would an open wound and the touch of some zombie juice be enough? or is it something the writers are comfortable looking over?

[SteadyEddie]

Yeah, I kind of have a problem with some of this... you get bit, you get an infection and you die.
But if zombie blood splashes in your eye, nose, ear, mouth, open wounds, you don't get an infection?
Oh well, I don't dwell on details like most do, but this sometimes bothers me a bit.

[backwoodsroamer]

I think in the end to make the show workable you have to suspend belief and just go with the concept that contact with contaminated blood won't infect you. Otherwise the gang has to be running around in Haz Mat or military CBRN MOP gear. They would be slower than walkers and easy meat then.

[LittleAssKicker]

Zombie funk, zombie funk everywhere!

Like SteadyEddie, I try not to ponder on it too much, although I was screaming CROSS CONTAMINATION in my head when Michonne touched her wound, and then Rick 'probed' it to get her to talk.

[BigEd]

They broke a law of physics when they crammed all of Lori into one walker stomach. He was bloated, but not even close to bloated enough to fit an adult woman inside.

I believe Glenn retrieved Lori's body after his encounter with Rick. The Walker (Sitter ) was lethargic and was in no condition to attack.

[meesha1971]

Yeah, I kind of have a problem with some of this... you get bit, you get an infection and you die.
But if zombie blood splashes in your eye, nose, ear, mouth, open wounds, you don't get an infection?
Oh well, I don't dwell on details like most do, but this sometimes bothers me a bit.

Well, that would depend on what the infection is and how it is transmitted. Getting blood on your skin or in your eyes and mouth isn't necessarily going to cause you to get sick - it depends on what type of contaminate is in that blood - bloodborne, airborne, etc... Soap and water will take care of most contaminates - which is why washing your hands frequently is the best way to prevent transmission of diseases. A 1/10 solution of bleach water will kill any contaminate - including HIV - and would not be harmful to the skin so it can be used externally. Flush your eyes with water. Brush your teeth. They have managed to wash themselves - even if they had to use cold water - so getting mucked up while killing zombies shouldn't be a huge problem.

A contaminate in an open wound is more likely to cause infection, but also dependent on the type of contaminate - you probably won't catch a cold if someone sneezes near your open cut for example, but you could get a minor infection around the cut if you don't clean it. Cleaning the wound - as Hershel did when he treated Michonne - is the best preventative measure in that type of situation. They do still have medical supplies - and Carl added to that with his trip to the infirmary - so they probably have things like peroxide and alcohol, but really even flushing the wound with water will help prevent infection.

What we know for certain is that everyone is already infected with whatever is causing corpses to reanimate - Jenner told them they hadn't determined if it was viral, bacterial, fungal, etc... What they did know what that everyone had it - most likely it is an airborne pathogen. The world ended before they could figure out exactly what it was or find a cure so there's nothing to be done about that now - at least in terms of the average survivor. It's certainly possible there are still scientists somewhere in the TWD world still trying to find a cure, but I doubt they will find them - until they decided to end the show anyway.

Since they are all infected and will turn into zombies when they die - regardless of how they die - the bigger issue for them would be the various ways a person can die. A bite from a zombie can cause someone to die - Morgan's wife and Jim both developed fevers after being bitten. That could be due any one of a million possible infections. Corpses are a breeding ground for bacteria - especially if they've been decaying out in the elements for a while. However, now that they know the bite only causes death and not the actual zombie transformation, it's become an issue of prevention - finding out how to treat the bite to prevent a fatal infection like the fever Jim contracted. Think of it like a snake bite - the goal is to prevent the "poison" from spreading beyond the area of the bite. Rick took an extreme option by cutting off Hershel's leg - thereby preventing any contamination from spreading from the bite. If they can figure out a way to treat bites with less extreme measures - medicine, herbs, etc... - that's one less cause of death for them to worry about. Though they still have a plethora of other diseases that they won't be able to do anything about - like cancer.

I don't think the show is going to focus on the medical aspect of this very much though. Zombie's Anatomy might be an interesting idea for a show, but it's not what they're going for with TWD.

[emperorzorn]

While I think the creators of the show messed up on that bit I would explain it by saying:
"The immune system of some individuals is so strong that its able to keep the viral infection at bay while alive,
but as soon as they die the immune system fails and the virus takes effect."

...could that even be ?

[dogwalker]

I don't think it's their blood that infects someone, as everyone is already infected. I think the premise is that when you die (no matter what causes it) you turn. A walker bite contains nothing that causes you to turn into a walker specifically, but the diseases associated with the mouth (lots of rotting flesh, probably more dirty and contaminated than just touching their blood) kills you through some other infection, then when you die, you turn.

[Watty]

Everyone has the disease and it doesn't take over until they die, so I guess getting someone's blood in them wouldn't really matter because they already have it anyway