Microcsopic parasites

[Duffusmonkey]

Has anyone considered that the zombie infection could be caused by microscopic parasites? Tonya had access to a microscope so she should have been able to spot this UNLESS everyone is infected and it takes a bite to activate the parasites.
Maybe Tonya is infected with the parasite so she is deliberately lying about it for fear of being killed.

I think my theory is flawed but I want to flesh it out a little anyways

There are some cool possibilities

Brain eating amebas, when someone tells you its dangerous to use a Neti-pot to clean your sinus it is because of the rare possibility to get this.
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/

Weird strain of Malaria, it looks like malaria is detected using a technique called "blood film" that Tonya might not have tried
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

[Cabbage Patch]

Maybe it was an infestation of brainworms from Ceti Alpha Five.


Normally they just make the victim susceptible to suggestion, but maybe, when combined with caffeine and violent video games, they can cause zombiism, and radical physical mutation.

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!

[YetAnotherBloodyCheek]

THIS IS CETI ALPHA FIVE!!!!!!!!!

[Duffusmonkey]

Tonya never looked in the Zombies' ears.... GENIUS!!!!

[scbubba]

Tonya never looked in the Zombies' ears.... GENIUS!!!!

Hmmm, I need to listen to the autopsy again but i can't recall hearing Tanya talk about cracking the skull open to see what's in there. Anybody recall off hand if she mentioned anything about the inside of the skull?

If not, then there could be all kinds of stuff hiding out in a Zed brain.....

[Grognaurd]

Yup, it is in the brains. Kimmet says they only way to confirm is autopsy. Mad Cow, Alzheimer's can be confirmed with autopsy, but we really do not have the tech to discover it in a non invasive manner. Michael is rewriting his journal to figure out all the intra character aspects, not the nature of the contagion, so he may gloss over those details.

If Tanya omits observation of the brain box, that is really really bad science or more of her covering things up. Ah case could be made that she runs out of time, but that behavior is super high risk, with NO reward. Causative agent for altered behavior is almost always with the brain.

This may be old news. I still the very last few chapters to listen through.

[Witch_Doctor]

Yup, it is in the brains. Kimmet says they only way to confirm is autopsy. Mad Cow, Alzheimer's can be confirmed with autopsy, but we really do not have the tech to discover it in a non invasive manner. Michael is rewriting his journal to figure out all the intra character aspects, not the nature of the contagion, so he may gloss over those details.

If Tanya omits observation of the brain box, that is really really bad science or more of her covering things up. Ah case could be made that she runs out of time, but that behavior is super high risk, with NO reward. Causative agent for altered behavior is almost always with the brain.

This may be old news. I still the very last few chapters to listen through.

See, I KNEW Arthur LaMarche's return would kick things up a notch! I always wondered what Kimmet meant by autopsy being the only way to determine infection.

There is no mention of Tanya examining #2's brain; however we last hear her talking about the arteries and then saying a few "Hmm"s and "um"s before a false pause between 15:42 to 15:48 in Chapter 33 part 3. So, if she examined the brain then we didn't hear about it.

[Grognaurd]

Just heard autopsy, like the good Doctor says, no brains. A case can be made about time and possible fear of bone saw not being enough to pop the top, but I still do not like it. I have always thought Tanya was in on the outbreak. I do not think Tanya could hide a bite from a slow turner. The paranoia is too great. The only way Tanya can hide a bite is if the scar is old before the outbreak, more later in another thread. I do not want to hijack good parasite thread for speculative Tanya thread.