[Soaked_Pancakes]

Myself and a few others mentioned in the "Petition To Bring Back Andrea" thread the concept of (probable) shark-jumping Andrea survival routes by saying that the bullet never hit her and having her overcome the zombie-fever.

And I know this has been talked about to death, but I think it's time to revive it once more...

• In theory, could one survive a fever by, say, taking an ice bath for a while?
  
• If the bath made the fever diminish to the point of going away, would you always have to live in fear of it returning? Could the fever just re-emerge at any time and finish the job?
  
• If the fever goes away for good, would the bite/scratch wound be able to heal? Would that wound act as 'dead' skin?
  
• Does a scratch induce the fever the same as a bite does? (See: Big Tiny)
  
• If a bite works through the flow of the zombies' oral bacteria reaching through the circulating blood, do means of death not caused by zombies cause instant-turning via brain chemical changing?
  
• As a sub-question to the previous, are there multiple different ways to turn into a zombie, and do each of these create a separate sub-species of zombie (hence, what the comics explain as "roamers" and "lurkers"?
• Does consuming zombie flesh/blood make you turn into one?

As difficult as it may be for the writers, I absolutely love when a sci-fi story takes the time to explore the (fake) science behind something and I feel disappointed when we don't at least the occasional snippets into something such as zombieism. This is why I love characters like Jenner and Milton, who gave us a little bit of insight into this. Jenner served his purpose perfectly and I accepted his timely death. But with Milton, I was left wanting him to do a few more experiments (even if the results weren't want he wanted. And besides, we were teased a while ago that he'd perform more experiments later in the season. Coleman was in the first half of the season, and that's pretty much the last we got...). I feel like under free reign from the Governor, it would've been refreshing to see Milton using tools at the prison to experiment on zombies.

I don't expect all of these questions to be answered on the show, or in the comics, but it'd be nice to see them acknowledged a bit more. However, I think the show should avoid experimentation for a while, for fear of having a character feel like a Milton replacement.

Anyway, what do you think the answers to these questions are? Do you have any more questions about the virus?

[Lioness]

Yes. I asked this on the other thread: Why did amputating Herschel's leg stop the progression of the disease? Is it carried in the bloodstream?

[stickoffury412]

I wrote this in the other thread and I will write it again. We never saw anyone change from a non fatal bite.

Amy- fatally bit, still turns but over a few hours later.

Sophia- assumed fatal bite. Never saw when she changed

Jim- bit (never saw him change)

Tdog - didn't change after initial bite but was devoured.

Donna - never re animated. We don't know if she passed out or died. But she also limped after an arm bite so her acting is questionable

Herschel- leg cut off before we could tell.

Andrea- took her life before we had the chance to see.

Otis was ripped to shreds. Dale was too pretty much.

Shane was shot changed quick
Milton changed quick
Helicopter guys changed quick
army guys shot by gov changes quick
Woodbury army changed quick
Merle changed quick

The last ones were all killed by humans. And gunshots. Or knives. Have we ever seen a person change from a non fatal bite

[Soaked_Pancakes]

I take that as the bacteria in a zombies' mouth spreads through your blood, eventually reaching your whole blood system and into your brain, causing a fever as your blood boils/freezes and/or dies, which then triggers the chemical reaction that turns you. I imagine that as we've seen so far, it's a slow, painful process. Cutting off Hershel's leg immediately after it'd been bit and cutting a bit above where he'd been bit probably stopped that bacteria from furthering through his body, allowing his blood to go untainted.

I wonder now... In the beginning of the season, when it was revealed that Andrea had a fever, were we supposed to assume she'd been bit?

EDIT: @Stick: Comic spoilers:

Spoiler

During the Hunters arc, Dale is bit softly in the back, I believe. We hardly saw, and no one else even noticed, so I can't picture it was severe. He was able to get around without any added trouble. The arc ends with him turning and Andrea having to put him down.

[Mrs. DD]

anyone remember where morgan's wife was bitten? because he said the fever burned her up and she died, not that she died from a fatal bite i.e blood loss...

[Lioness]

It sounds like while one can die from a bite, it still could be possible to survive the bite and possibly a fever. We just assumed that you die when you get the fever. Someone mentioned in another thread that fevers are actually the body's mechanism for combating infection which, I believe is true. Somewhere along the line I thought I read that Rick might have some immunity too. But it has been a long time since I have seen anything else on that.

[Zombie_killer]

anyone remember where morgan's wife was bitten? because he said the fever burned her up and she died, not that she died from a fatal bite i.e blood loss...

Yeah o thought all bites were fatal because they start the fever. It's be interesting to know if you could change it but it's doubtful.

[Zombie_killer]

Oops I knew there was something else I meant to say. Re Big tiny, I would have liked him to be isolated so we can see if scratches turn you

[Shane is the Man]

You do realize that a fever is just a symptom, don't you? A fever is a sign that your body is fighting an infection. Your body heats itself up so pathogens have less of a chance of surviving. So it would actually be counterproductive to get rid of the fever to help Andrea survive. But even assuming that you could permanently get rid of the fever, she would still be infected from the bite. No amount of icy baths is gonna change that.

[Lioness]

When a fever breaks on its own isn't that a symptom of someone getting better?

[Shane is the Man]

When a fever breaks on its own isn't that a symptom of someone getting better?

Yes but the fever goes down because the infection is going away. It does not work the other way. Treating a fever will do nothing to treat an infection. You all don't have kids, do you?lol

[Lioness]

Right, the fever goes down (ie. breaks on its own) because the infection is going away. I think that is what I am saying.

[Soaked_Pancakes]

You do realize that a fever is just a symptom, don't you? A fever is a sign that your body is fighting an infection. Your body heats itself up so pathogens have less of a chance of surviving. So it would actually be counterproductive to get rid of the fever to help Andrea survive. But even assuming that you could permanently get rid of the fever, she would still be infected from the bite. No amount of icy baths is gonna change that.

Actually, no...I didn't realize that, but thank you for explaining! I'll be frank, I know practically nothing about human biology (never had such a class in school, and don't plan on taking it in college unless I have no choice). The more you know. This is a really great tidbit to keep in my mind in the future when wondering about the zombie virus.
Alright, so I guess it's safe to assume that no matter what, once you get the fever, you're screwed.

[Zombie_killer]

<br />Yes but the fever goes down because the infection is going away. It does not work the other way. Treating a fever will do nothing to treat an infection. You all don't have kids, do you?lol

<br /><br />Well actually you are not quite right. Yes a fever is your body heating up as certain pathogens cannot live in heat and therefore they die and your body takes the lead in fighting the illness.

However, I shall use children as you mentioned them - if fever gets too high they can have febrile convulsions and so although its good to have a slight fever, anything over 39degrees heads into dangerous territory. So the fever from the virus can actually be what kills them - therefore bringing it down a bit certainly could be helpful

[Shane is the Man]

<br /><br />Well actually you are not quite right. Yes a fever is your body heating up as certain pathogens cannot live in heat and therefore they die and your body takes the lead in fighting the illness.

However, I shall use children as you mentioned them - if fever gets too high they can have febrile convulsions and so although its good to have a slight fever, anything over 39degrees heads into dangerous territory. So the fever from the virus can actually be what kills them - therefore bringing it down a bit certainly could be helpful

Well, one thing is actual biology and another thing is "biology" in TWD.
So, while it is true that febrile convulsions are a possibility (and I do give fever medicine is fever is really high, for my kids comfort and to avoid convulsions) they are for the most part not dangerous and children do not die from a high fever, even if it produces convulsions.

That being said, a lot of people are saying that it is established fact in TWD that you die from a fever that burns you up. I never understood it that way. IMO, you get a really high fever, but you die from the actual infection you get from the bite. This bite infection is different from the actual infection that turns you into a zombie. That's how I understand it anyways.

So to answer the OP,, I don't believe treating the fever will stop someone from dying, because I believe the fever from TWD bite is just a regular fever like the one we have in real life, albeit a higher one.

[GirlsDeadMonster]

I believe the infection acts like meningitis following the blood stream into the linings of the brain. Once there, there is no stopping it. Meningitis can take as little time as a few hours from the onset of symptons to death and this infection is the same way. In Hershel's instance, the infected limb was severed before it could spread. Being bit on the torso would complicated that like Andrea since you can't remove that. Also, the time of change is in direct relation to where the person was bit. If on the torso the vital organs can become infected and it's already to late while bit on the limbs may buy you some time.

[stickoffury412]

Yes but the fever goes down because the infection is going away. It does not work the other way. Treating a fever will do nothing to treat an infection. You all don't have kids, do you?lol

If me or Pancakes were to have a child at our age. It'd be considered a mistake by most