Do you think it would be possible to cure an infected person?

edited September 2012 in The Walking Dead
Hey guys, so I've recently thought about this.
What if you were actually able to stop an infection if you were to act fast and had the proper medical supplies?
Now, I did not study medicine, but here's what I understand:
1. After someone was bitten by an infected zombie, the zombie sinks their teeth in a victim's skin, causing a wound and bacteria from their mouth and saliva to get into the wound.
2. Infection is never instant in a real-life situation. If you have, say, experience in medicine, have the proper medical supplies and perhaps even a doctor near you, a real-life infection could be cured almost instantly.
Now, if you were infected and had so much experience and expertise in medicine, and acted fast, do you think you'd be able to cure your infection?
As soon as you get bitten and kill the zombie, you clean your wound with a medicinal towel, then pour a lot of peroxide on the wound, clean it again and swallow some anti-bacterial pills (I'm not sure those exist) and do whatever you can with the medicine you have to get cured.
So, what do you think? Vote in the poll and then post your opinion.
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Comments

  • edited August 2012
    ni haven't read the comics so im really ignorant of the story/infection in TWD. But i'd say the infection will eventually dissappear like the "flu pandemic" in the 18's
  • edited August 2012
    if you cut off the limb that was bitten and you survive that may stop the infection, but you would still be potential a zombie, everybody is infected
  • edited August 2012
    if you cut off the limb that was bitten and you survive that may stop the infection, but you would still be potential a zombie, everybody is infected
    You're only a zombie if you've been infected through a bite or have died.
  • edited September 2012
    Gvazdas wrote: »
    You're only a zombie if you've been infected through a bite or have died.

    Exactly, once you die whether bitten or not you turn into a zombie. TWD has so far not revealed how it started so for all we know the "virus" is airborne.
  • edited September 2012
    darham175 wrote: »
    Exactly, once you die whether bitten or not you turn into a zombie. TWD has so far not revealed how it started so for all we know the "virus" is airborne.
    Well, the only logical explanation is it is. It doesn't make sense if a person turns into a zombie AFTER infection, though. If he is infected, why won't he get infected immediately? Does he need a stimulus such as dying blood cells or other fully infected bacteria?
  • edited September 2012
    Everybody is infected, if you die (zombie kill or not) you will become a zombie.

    its the walking dead rules
  • edited September 2012
    It could be that the breakdown of cells upon death creates some sort of enzyme or something that acts as a catalyst for the virus in it's take over of the "host".
  • edited September 2012
    Everybody is infected, if you die (zombie kill or not) you will become a zombie.

    its the walking dead rules
    It is, the question was if you could save a person that was BITTEN and not dead yet.
  • edited September 2012
    Maybe the virus is something that was always inside people, but one day something made it go active upon death? That could be what started the apocalypse. And the walkers biting you could maybe transfer some more of that stuff into your body, which speeds up the activation of the "Dead-germ" or whatever it is, and begins turning you into a walker without having to wait for death?

    But I think the only way to stop this infection is by amputating the limb(s) that were bitten, and very quickly at that. Once the virus takes over, and you die and come back as a zombie, there can be no cure because you're already dead.
  • edited September 2012
    Rock114 wrote: »
    Maybe the virus is something that was always inside people, but one day something made it go active upon death? That could be what started the apocalypse. And the walkers biting you could maybe transfer some more of that stuff into your body, which speeds up the activation of the "Dead-germ" or whatever it is, and begins turning you into a walker without having to wait for death?

    But I think the only way to stop this infection is by amputating the limb(s) that were bitten, and very quickly at that. Once the virus takes over, and you die and come back as a zombie, there can be no cure because you're already dead.
    Technically, the germ (bacteria) could be cured by peroxide or other healing aids that kill any kind of bacteria. So amputation wouldn't be necessary if healed quick enough.
  • edited September 2012
    Gvazdas wrote: »
    Technically, the germ (bacteria) could be cured by peroxide or other healing aids that kill any kind of bacteria. So amputation wouldn't be necessary if healed quick enough.

    It would be nice to think that, and it actually makes sense I guess. I'm not a medical person, so all I know of this is what I've read in the comics. There, the only cure was a quick amputation. If it were possible to save someone from a bite EP3 would have been actually bearable :(
  • edited September 2012
    It is, the question was if you could save a person that was BITTEN and not dead yet.

    It's not about medical supplies, but if you can cut of the bitten part fast enough. If I'm not completly wrong, there was such a thing in the comics. It might have been Dale, but I'm not 100% sure about it.

    Also:

    MAJOR SPOILER
    There was someone jumping down, broke his leg, turned. Might happen to Omid.

    YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED
  • edited September 2012
    Rock114 wrote: »
    It would be nice to think that, and it actually makes sense I guess. I'm not a medical person, so all I know of this is what I've read in the comics. There, the only cure was a quick amputation. If it were possible to save someone from a bite EP3 would have been actually bearable :(
    Yes. It would be actually really awesome if Clementine had this and she could be cured. Maybe she gets infected but meets a doctor and gets treated immediately?
  • edited September 2012
    Bashtee wrote: »
    It's not about medical supplies, but if you can cut of the bitten part fast enough.
    No, no, you're not understanding me. Read my previous posts again if you can.
    The infected bacteria can be neutralized and killed with certain meds (such as peroxide, I have had a huge wound on my leg which could have been infected but I treated it asap with a bottle of peroxide and medicinal cloth.
  • edited September 2012
    Everyone's infected. Zombie bites are gross and nasty and can cause completely unrelated infections. Human mouths are already really disgusting petri dishes of grossness, more than a lot of other mammals like dogs (no matter how often you brush your teeth, you're just that gross).

    So dying causes you to rise from the dead as a zombie.

    And bites cause blood infections and kill you unless you can stop the infection from spreading. But no one really has antibiotics in the apocalypse, so that's why you might as well cut off the limb.
  • edited September 2012
    Reminds me of the film 'Day of the Dead' (2008).
    Dude gets a small zombie bite on the hand and right away another survivor pours industrial-strength bleach all over it. Dude still ends up turning through, must be some crazy type of infection.

    The only thing I've ever seen stop a bite from turning the victim is a speedy amputation.
  • edited September 2012
    if it was like resident evil zombies then yes (anti virus), I havn't read the comics for TWD so I don't know the story past season 2 of the show but I wouldn't think so, should be that when it hits your blood stream It's game over
  • edited September 2012
    Gvazdas wrote: »
    Hey guys, so I've recently thought about this.
    What if you were actually able to stop an infection if you were to act fast and had the proper medical supplies?
    Now, I did not study medicine, but here's what I understand:
    1. After someone was bitten by an infected zombie, the zombie sinks their teeth in a victim's skin, causing a wound and bacteria from their mouth and saliva to get into the wound.
    2. Infection is never instant in a real-life situation. If you have, say, experience in medicine, have the proper medical supplies and perhaps even a doctor near you, a real-life infection could be cured almost instantly.
    Now, if you were infected and had so much experience and expertise in medicine, and acted fast, do you think you'd be able to cure your infection?
    As soon as you get bitten and kill the zombie, you clean your wound with a medicinal towel, then pour a lot of peroxide on the wound, clean it again and swallow some anti-bacterial pills (I'm not sure those exist) and do whatever you can with the medicine you have to get cured.
    So, what do you think? Vote in the poll and then post your opinion.

    I think all that is a good idea but will not make any difference. At best, maybe, and I mean maybe, the infection rate will be slowed down a small amount. The best medicine in what Morgan said "don't you get bit!".
  • edited September 2012
    no amount of disinfectant pored onto a zombie bite will kill all the virus, there would be thousands of the virus cells just hanging out under the thousands of dead cells, its why antibiotics are important
  • edited September 2012
    bazenji wrote: »
    Everyone's infected. Zombie bites are gross and nasty and can cause completely unrelated infections. Human mouths are already really disgusting petri dishes of grossness, more than a lot of other mammals like dogs (no matter how often you brush your teeth, you're just that gross).

    So dying causes you to rise from the dead as a zombie.

    And bites cause blood infections and kill you unless you can stop the infection from spreading. But no one really has antibiotics in the apocalypse, so that's why you might as well cut off the limb.
    I know. Once again, question was if someone could get saved from a zombie bite and survive without turning (or dying under a different context)/.
  • edited September 2012
    no amount of disinfectant pored onto a zombie bite will kill all the virus, there would be thousands of the virus cells just hanging out under the thousands of dead cells, its why antibiotics are important
    Small amounts of bacteria can be killed by your body fighting against it. Large amounts, however, cannot.
    If there's, say, a small or medium amount of bacteria on the wound, if you used peroxide on it, all of it, or most of it would be eliminated and the rest that is inside your organism would be fought off by your organism's self-defense against viruses and bacteria. It really depends on how much is in your system.
    Our bodies survive because they are capable of defending themselves from viruses and bacteria. Zombie bacteria is no different, it just has much, much bigger consequences.
  • edited September 2012
    Kirkman has said the bites don't spread any Zombie infection, the "Infection" is in everyone already. So yes, you could theoretically stop a bitten person turning if you could successfully disinfect them and prevent them dying of disease, I suppose.
  • edited September 2012
    Gvazdas wrote: »
    Small amounts of bacteria can be killed by your body fighting against it. Large amounts, however, cannot.
    If there's, say, a small or medium amount of bacteria on the wound, if you used peroxide on it, all of it, or most of it would be eliminated and the rest that is inside your organism would be fought off by your organism's self-defense against viruses and bacteria. It really depends on how much is in your system.
    Our bodies survive because they are capable of defending themselves from viruses and bacteria. Zombie bacteria is no different, it just has much, much bigger consequences.

    if i bite you hard you will need antibiotics, let alone if i had been dead for a few weeks and i bite you
  • edited September 2012
    Isn't there always a tiny percentage of humans immune to a certain viral infection? Theoretically you could create an antidote from them.

    Disclaimer: Most of my medical knowledge in this matter comes from disaster B-movies.
  • edited September 2012
    If one were to clean the wound with something - peroxide, antiseptic, even a good ole bottle of alcohol, it would get rid of enough germs for the body to fight it. Now, because the 'zombie virus' is already in everyone, and that the bite just causes a serious infection that happens to kill you, I think the only reason cleaning (and dressing) the wound wouldn't work would be that the fiction itself doesn't allow it, unless you amputate (which makes no sense, what if that gets infected, or you die of blood loss).
  • edited September 2012
    I know the perfect cure! A bullet to the brain.
  • edited September 2012
    You could probably cure a bite victim but you would need a doctor not a vet Duck was a gonner
  • edited September 2012
    everyone is infected and turn when they die the bites just kill.
  • edited September 2012
    If it's not a virus, they aren't "infected". Maybe "mutated" would be a better word. Maybe it's the result of sentient gases released in a solar flare or a passing comet.
  • edited September 2012
    I keep saying this over and over. If you look the the Walking Dead Wiki under zombies, it cites a letter response where Kirkman refuses to confirm the nature of the zombie. He only says that nothing is transmitted through the bite, it just becomes an infected wound in the way that any other wound would fester and kill you in a non-sterile environment. Since everyone dead turns into a zombie, you die and reanimate.

    The interesting question here is - if you controlled the situation entirely, cleaned a zombie's mouth, disinfected the wound and cleaned everything perfectly, would the bite still kill you? Dale has avoided turning because of an amputation, so it's not a supernatural event. You have to die by physical means, it's not simply triggered by the bite. My theory is yes, a perfectly controlled disinfected bite would not turn someone. But until Kirkman gives an example of a shiny toothed zombie who bites someone in a newly refurbished hospital, we won't know.
  • edited September 2012
    a shiny toothed zombie who bites someone in a newly refurbished hospital, we won't know.

    A zombie with dentures?
  • edited September 2012
    I know that TWD TV show is regarded as another universe but it is still written by Kirkman. At the end of the first season there was a guy at the CDC who didn't manage to find a cure to the virus. As far as I recall his wife was bitten but he couldn't cure her, so they scanned her brain to see what happens during the transformation.

    Once you're bitten it's game over. Unless you have the luck of being bitten on place that can be amputated.
  • edited September 2012
    YamiRaziel wrote: »
    I know that TWD TV show is regarded as another universe but it is still written by Kirkman. At the end of the first season there was a guy at the CDC who didn't manage to find a cure to the virus. As far as I recall his wife was bitten but he couldn't cure her, so they scanned her brain to see what happens during the transformation.

    Once you're bitten it's game over. Unless you have the luck of being bitten on place that can be amputated.

    i think that whole CDC part was so silly it should have been a dream, the idea that hundreds of science geeks would want to leave a secure bunker to be with their family and die is just stupid, it was just the TV way of saying "no cure, the end"
  • shammackshammack Former Telltale Staff
    edited September 2012
    The interesting question here is - if you controlled the situation entirely, cleaned a zombie's mouth, disinfected the wound and cleaned everything perfectly, would the bite still kill you? Dale has avoided turning because of an amputation, so it's not a supernatural event. You have to die by physical means, it's not simply triggered by the bite. My theory is yes, a perfectly controlled disinfected bite would not turn someone. But until Kirkman gives an example of a shiny toothed zombie who bites someone in a newly refurbished hospital, we won't know.

    I think the answer would depend on what's more convenient to the plot.
  • edited September 2012
    Cyreen wrote: »
    A zombie with dentures?

    Wooden Toothed Zombie Washington?
    shammack wrote: »
    I think the answer would depend on what's more convenient to the plot.

    I'm pretty sure Kirkman never wants to explain the phenomena. It goes against his world to give it hard rules.
  • edited September 2012
    Well, if the walkers aren't transmitting anything through the bite, then it seems to me that it could be cured with medicine. We've never seen that, but that might only be because we haven't had the chance yet. The closest that Duck, the only bite victim we've had time to spend with, got to medical aid was a box of animal crackers and a bottle of water.
  • edited September 2012
    Rock114 wrote: »
    Well, if the walkers aren't transmitting anything through the bite, then it seems to me that it could be cured with medicine. We've never seen that, but that might only be because we haven't had the chance yet. The closest that Duck, the only bite victim we've had time to spend with, got to medical aid was a box of animal crackers and a bottle of water.

    And a high five. We can't forget the importance of regular high fives. I saw it on Scrubs so it has to be medically relevant.
  • edited September 2012
    the only cure is lump of lead in either ear..

    or the eye

    or the temple

    or the forehead
  • shammackshammack Former Telltale Staff
    edited September 2012
    or the cheek :D
  • edited September 2012
    maybe we could "cure" it if we redefine it, if we call them "living impaired" instead of "zombies" that would "cure" a lot of the bad feelings around the "living impaired"
This discussion has been closed.