Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://virologydownunder.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/world-war-z-study-in-extreme.html
World War Z: a study in extreme epidemiology.
I saw this at the movies Thursday night. I really enjoyed the movie - really delivers on its zombie promise and adds the story of a father trying to look after his family.
It struck me though that it's also a great story of what would happen if, instead of anthropomorphising viruses into beings that wish to do things...you gave them a pair of legs and let them decide what to do...which it turns out is to transmit, transmit, transmit! So, some irreverent thoughts on how a Z virus might fit in the current context of virus outbreaks..
Diagnosis would be a doddle. No need to painfully design, optimise and validate a catch-all PCR for the virus based on one sequence you got from the internet, or to keep that assay ahead of mutation-defeating viral evolution. There would be pathognomonic signs of disease - eyes rolling back into the patient's head and turning white, a strange web-like pattern of blood vessels under a pallid skin tone, very bad teeth, spasmodic limb and jaw movements, disregard for personal safety when colliding with objects at speed, an ability to rapidly accelerate, disregard for heights, a hideous squeally noise on inhalation (which also prevents the virus from spreading stealthily) and the very urgent need to bite any piece of you that it can. Any 3 of these should be a diagnostic triad.
Molecular epidemiology won't be necessary to track viral change...
World War Z: a study in extreme epidemiology.
I saw this at the movies Thursday night. I really enjoyed the movie - really delivers on its zombie promise and adds the story of a father trying to look after his family.
It struck me though that it's also a great story of what would happen if, instead of anthropomorphising viruses into beings that wish to do things...you gave them a pair of legs and let them decide what to do...which it turns out is to transmit, transmit, transmit! So, some irreverent thoughts on how a Z virus might fit in the current context of virus outbreaks..
Diagnosis would be a doddle. No need to painfully design, optimise and validate a catch-all PCR for the virus based on one sequence you got from the internet, or to keep that assay ahead of mutation-defeating viral evolution. There would be pathognomonic signs of disease - eyes rolling back into the patient's head and turning white, a strange web-like pattern of blood vessels under a pallid skin tone, very bad teeth, spasmodic limb and jaw movements, disregard for personal safety when colliding with objects at speed, an ability to rapidly accelerate, disregard for heights, a hideous squeally noise on inhalation (which also prevents the virus from spreading stealthily) and the very urgent need to bite any piece of you that it can. Any 3 of these should be a diagnostic triad.
Molecular epidemiology won't be necessary to track viral change...