Zombies are a really fascinating and interesting topic and something that is used often for TV shows and movies. The thought of having someone die and come back to life is mind boggling and even horrifying to fathom. It seems like something that is impossible and could never happen, but what is the probability of a zombie apocalypse occuring?

Max Brooks wrote a book entitled The Zombie Survival Guide. This Website provides a description of Brooks’s take on how the virus would develop. Solanum (a fictional virus) is a virus that goes through the blood stream and uses the cells of the frontal lobe for replication. All body functions stop working and the infected person is dead because their heart stops. The virus mutates the cells and creates a new organ, and the new organ does not need oxygen at all. Essentially, the person now becomes the un-dead because of this disease (Max Brooks).

Now that is the fictional aspect of a possible zombie virus, but what are the realities of it happening? The answer is biological warfare. If a zombie apocalypse were to happen, zombies would realistically only be able to survive for a few days-weeks. People worried about the Ebola virus being used as a weapon by certain enemies. Artificial viruses could be made, thus it is possible that a zombie virus could be made.

What is the history of biological weaponry? Bio-weapons were used back in WWII. Japan poisoned thousands of water wells in China in order to study cholera and typhus outbreaks. As of today, people and non-governmental groups are able to use dangerous microorganisms; the spread of hepatitis, parasitic infections, diarrhea, and gastroenteritis.  A radical religious group tried poising a whole community by spreading salmonella in salad bars. “These examples clearly indicate that organized groups or individuals with sufficient determination can obtain dangerous biological agents” (NCBI). This means that if a radical individual or non-governmental group wanted to create a virus that resembles zombies, they could try to artificially design one.

Although, it seems like a zombie epidemic is highly unlikely, there is a possibility of a virus being similar to what we consider as zombies being spread through biological warfare.