Zombie Outbreak 2012?
A Commentary
A spate of incidents in recent weeks involving flesh-eating (and an apparently reanimated dead person) has raised the specter of a zombie outbreak.
Below is a timeline of the events:
- May 26
Rudy Eugene, 31, was shot and killed by police after he was discovered eating another man's face alongside Miami's busy MacArthur Causeway. The victim—a homeless man—suffered severe injuries and faces years of reconstructive surgery. - May 31
In New Jersey, police responded to a call concerning a man who had barricaded himself inside his house. When the cops arrived and stormed the house, the man stabbed himself and threw pieces of his intestines at them. - June 1
A student at Morgan State University in Maryland confessed to murdering his roommate and then consuming his brain and heart. - June 1
A professor in Sweden cut off his wife's lips and ate them, apparently because he believed she was having an affair. - June 5
Carl Jacquneaux, a 43-year-old resident of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, attacked an acquaintance and attempted to chew his face off. Police arrested the man later for aggravated battery. The victim was released from the hospital and is recovering from his injuries. - June 7, 2012
A two-year-old boy who had died from pneumonia reportedly sat up in his coffin at the open-casket wake and asked for a glass of water. As onlookers screamed, the boy immediately lost consciousness and fell back into the coffin. The boy's father rushed him back to the hospital, but he never regained consciousness, and doctors declared him dead—for a second time.
The Miami incident certainly triggered a fair share of zombie-like behavior among the media. Every incident with even a tangential association with it became front-page news. The words "zombie apocalypse" appeared again and again online and in print.
As a former member of the FVZA, I try not to get caught up in the media frenzy and prefer to take a more analytical approach to these events. The incidents in Miami and Louisiana involving Mr. Eugene and Mr. Jacquneaux (pictured below) have me most concerned, as they were geographically close enough to suggest an outbreak.
Face eaters Rudy Eugene (left) and Carl Jacquneaux
Anytime you see a series of incidents within a small geographical area, you have to consider that something is spreading from person to person. Homeless people, like the man in Miami, are often the first victims.
Incidents that smack of zombie activity require special attention. Police and public health authorities should, at minimum, do the following:
- Look for signs of early-stage zombieism during the initial physical examination
At first glance, early-stage zombies can be difficult to distinguish from drunks or drugged-out people. A quick post-mortem examination should look for unusual amounts of lividity, or pooled blood, and a lower-than-expected body temperature. The human body typically loses about 1.5 degrees (F) of temperature after death. The body temperature of an early-stage zombie will be 20 to 30 degrees colder. - Autopsy
The autopsy will show significant thinning of the cerebral cortex and thickening in the jaw musculature. The blood will be much darker in color.
- Viral assay
Regardless of the physical condition of the body, any person who displays zombie-like symptoms should undergo a simple blood test to detect the presence of the virus. The assay is the best way to provide a definitive conclusion. Unfortunately, these assays, once widely available, are now stored at the CDC headquarters in Atlanta, and manufacturers no longer make them. I've urged the CDC to make these assays available at least on a regional level.
If a zombie outbreak is detected, public safety officials should warn people to stay in their homes while police ramp up patrols with an eye toward anyone who is aggressive and unresponsive to commands. The authorities also should close off roads leading into and out of any area where biting incidents have occurred.