Austin Johnson

The Real Zombie Virus

Have you ever seen a zombie movie “Dawn of the Dead” or viral outback movie like The Stand they both make viruses the main problem in the movie, some viruses are like the ones in the movies.   Viruses in the movies are very similar to real viruses but not all viruses are bad some are helpful.

      Some viruses help us get rid of diseases while others damage our bodies and can even kill us. One virus that kills 155,000,000 people a year (not in America) is the rabies virus it is similar to the virus in the movie “Dawn of the Dead” because the rabies virus attacks the brain and spinal cord and changes the brain functions (?) which is like the zombie virus. The zombie virus changes the brains function to reanimate the dead corpse. The rabies virus after 10 days will kill its host but fortuity there has only been two cases of rabies reported in the last five years because of our vaccine to the rabies virus.

      Most viruses ‘can’t be killed without help from medicine because most viruses evolved to beat our immune system.  How a virus spreads is by infecting other cells then the infected cell grows viruses almost exactly the same as the virus that infected the cell then the viruses gets released when the cell bursts to infect other cells (viruses).  But our bodies have learned to combat these viruses mostly through vaccines.  The vaccine is a dead virus as soon as it is in our body our white blood cells attack it thinking it is alive which helps our body find out how to kill it. We have also eliminated most animals infected with the rabies virus through giving them the vaccine in food left for the animals. But not all viruses are bad for you like the rabies virus some help us.

      Some viruses all do the same thing (or at least most) they get in cells and most kill their host.  One virus is being changed to attack only cancer cells the virus is still doing what it is meant to do but no it kills bad cells. The Cyanophage virus helps us breath oxygen is filled with this virus it enters the cells in our lungs to deliver extra oxygen then the body forces it out. Unfortunately our body hates all viruses good or bad so we can only let good viruses in for a short time.

        Some viruses help us while other viruses are more like the ones in the movies that kill us. Good or bad viruses have been around for millions of years.

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Arthur Schoenstadt, MD. "Scientific Name for Rabies." 17 october 2006. med tv. 23 april 12 <http://rabies.emedtv.com/rabies-virus/scientific-name-for-rabies.html>.

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