As the recent zombie outbreak continues to spread across Utah State University’s campus this week, local scientists are working hto find a cause to the virus and, eventually, a cure.
Several scientists agreed that the first precautionary measure to take was to cut off all contact with those known to be infected.
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| Andy Anderson |
“Quarantine is the first thing,” said Andy Anderson, a USU biologist. “We have to close the borders, close the roads and isolate ourselves from the virus.”
As soon as it became clear that the virus was spreading very rapidly, a team of epidemiological scientists began investigating the origin of the virus.
“We are always looking for commonalities,” said Reed Geertsen, a USU medical sociologist. “We have to track down who has the virus, find common symptoms, look at the physical traits and try to come up with how this virus began and how it is spreading so rapidly.”
According to Geertsen, there are still a lot of questions that haven’t been answered and the cure won’t be found until the underlying cause is discovered.
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| Reed Geertsen |
“We know that the zombie virus is flesh-eating,” Geertsen said. “What we don’t know is how it began. Was it an airborne virus that the first person caught? Was the first person bit by something previously infected that contracted the foreign virus? We just don’t know yet.”
Geertsen compared the zombie virus epidemic to the Black Death that plagued Europe hundreds of years ago.
“This virus is like the plague because of how rampant it is,” Geertsen said. “We are hoping that it ebbs and flows like the plague so we can have more time to figure out how it began.”
Although the future is still unknown in terms of controlling and eradicating the virus, Geertsen, Anderson and their colleagues are hopeful that medical knowledge will prevail and answers will be forthcoming.
“We are applying our best medical and scientific knowledge to stop the spreading of this virus,” Geertsen said.
The fear of not being able to find a cure and becoming infected still remains while the scientists have been running tests and researching the results.
“The thing that’s scary is you don’t know who’s infected,” Anderson said. “Someone who looks normal could have a small bite somewhere and transform into a zombie within a matter of seconds.”
Aside from the medical and scientific aspect of searching for a cure, scientists are also worried about the emotional impact the virus continues to have on human relationships.
“Without scientific knowledge, we are hopeless,” Geertsen said. “When we are hopeless, mass hysteria ensues. When mass hysteria ensues, human relationships are destroyed.”
UnDeadline reporters Amanda Ahlman, Mitch Watkins, Robyn Van Valkenburg, Sara Bailey and Cassidy Stephens contributed to this report.
