They have been called
ghoulish, undead, rotting carcasses and infected. But according to new research,
released Friday morning, zombies at Utah State University should no longer be classified
as living dead.
Actually, the infected
students are experiencing the effects of a parasite.
“The students aren’t
really dead,” said Greg Podgorski, an associate professor in the Department of Biology.
“They are just experiencing behavioral changes because of the presence of
toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease.”
“It is actually pretty
obvious when you think about it,” said Erika Lovett, a second-year biochemistry
undergraduate. “The affected students don’t eat brains while indoors. They just
act a little different.”
Severe toxoplasmosis
affects the brain and eyes, causes lymph nodes throughout the body to swell,
develops cysts in muscles and nerves and causes schizophrenia.
“To reverse the effects of
the parasite the zombie would have to take an anti-malarial medication called
Pyrimethamine,” Podgorski said. “It would have to be a large enough dose to
interfere with the RNA and DNA synthesis in the affected.”
Some “zombies,” like
Shantell Ostler and Jason Parker, are eager to receive the treatment.
“I would take a cure,”
Ostler said. “When the humans face off with me, I know I can’t win.”
“I’m not as confident as a
zombie as I am a human,” Parker said.
But not everyone wants a
cure.
“I'm proud to be a member
of the Horde. The knowledge that I'm serving my people is intrinsically
motivating,” Kjersti Matheson said.
Lovett acknowledged that
some members of the infected population could be more difficult to cure. Friends,
roommates or family members would have to take extreme measures to administer
the treatment.
“The zombie would probably
have to be tackled and then tied down.” Lovett said. “Once the zombie stops
trying to eat brains, it can stop receiving the medication.”
UnDeadline reporters Matt Walker, Chris Larsen,
Kelsy Ensign, Summer Taylor and Skylar Christensen contributed to this report.
