Introduction
Think about you are barricaded in a crumbling constructing, the air thick with the moans of the undead. Provides are dwindling, and desperation claws at your resolve. Your gaze falls upon a shuffling determine – a freshly turned zombie, comparatively intact. A chilling thought crosses your thoughts: may it’s a meals supply? However is consuming zombie flesh actually a viable choice in a survival state of affairs, or are you simply buying and selling one nightmare for an much more ugly one?
Whereas zombies stay firmly rooted within the realm of fiction, their ugly existence sparks morbid curiosity. From George A. Romero’s shambling hordes to the fast-moving contaminated of “28 Days Later,” the biology and conduct of zombies range wildly. However one factor stays constant: they are not precisely recognized for his or her pristine hygiene. So, what occurs in the event you eat zombie flesh?
The reply, unsurprisingly, is nearly universally horrible. Consuming zombie flesh is awfully harmful as a result of astronomically excessive threat of an infection with no matter reanimated them, the overwhelming bacterial contamination from decaying tissue, and the potential for acute toxicity from the breakdown merchandise of a lifeless physique. The potential outcomes vary from horrific ailments to an agonizing and probably fairly speedy demise.
Understanding the Dangers: The Undead Buffet, A Recipe for Catastrophe
The query of what occurs in the event you eat zombie flesh is a query of the way you’re ready to threat your life. The core hazard lies within the unholy trinity of an infection, contamination, and toxicity. Every ingredient represents a definite menace, and their mixed assault in your system would doubtless be devastating.
The Zombie An infection Issue
Let’s begin with the first concern: the pathogen accountable for turning folks into the strolling lifeless. This “zombie virus” or an infection is the cornerstone of the zombie mythos. Whether or not it is a mutated pressure of rabies, a genetically engineered virus gone awry, a terrifying prion illness, or perhaps a weird type of fungal an infection, the agent is often unfold via bites or contact with bodily fluids.
Consuming zombie flesh means direct, unfiltered publicity to an extremely concentrated dose of this infectious agent. Not like a chunk, the place your immune system might need an opportunity (albeit a slim one) to struggle again, ingestion introduces the pathogen instantly into your digestive system, offering a freeway to each organ in your physique. The digestive course of itself may even improve the absorption of the pathogen, making an infection much more doubtless.
Bacterial Contamination: A Feast for the Undesirable Company
Even when the “zombie virus” wasn’t an element, zombie flesh presents a bacterial contamination threat of biblical proportions. Zombies, by definition, are rotting corpses. Decomposition is a course of fueled by micro organism, turning natural matter right into a stinking, liquefying mess.
Micro organism like *Clostridium*, *E. coli*, *Salmonella*, and numerous different microorganisms thrive in decaying tissue. These micro organism produce toxins that may trigger extreme meals poisoning. Think about the worst case of meals poisoning you have ever skilled, after which multiply it by an element of, effectively, the apocalypse.
Even when cooked totally (a doubtful proposition contemplating the zombie apocalypse state of affairs), many bacterial toxins are heat-stable and may nonetheless trigger sickness. The sheer quantity of micro organism in zombie flesh would overwhelm your digestive system, resulting in agonizing cramps, relentless vomiting, explosive diarrhea, and a probably deadly stage of dehydration.
The Toxicity Issue: A Corpse Cocktail
Past the an infection and the bacterial onslaught, take into account the inherent toxicity of decaying flesh. After we die, our our bodies start to interrupt down, releasing a cocktail of poisonous compounds. These compounds are usually filtered out by the liver and kidneys, however in a zombie, these organs have ceased functioning.
Subsequently, zombie flesh is saturated with the byproducts of mobile demise, together with putrescine, cadaverine, and different noxious chemical substances. Consuming these toxins would place an insufferable pressure in your liver and kidneys, probably resulting in organ failure.
Including to the grim actuality, if the zombie was a latest casualty, there’s the very actual risk that they nonetheless have medicines or embalming fluids of their system. Consuming these chemical substances would trigger much more hurt, probably triggering extreme allergic reactions or exacerbating the poisonous results of the decaying flesh.
Parasites in Undead Flesh
Think about the world is already filled with Zombies – however what occurs if they’re already contaminated by parasites when they’re alive, and people parasites proceed to thrive within the undead flesh? Parasites akin to worms, bugs, and extra thrive in lifeless our bodies and would simply be transferred to a human host via the consuming of Zombie flesh.
The Hypothetical Horror Present: From Chew to Breakdown
So, what would really occur in the event you took a chunk of a zombie? Let’s break down the potential results, from the rapid response to the long-term penalties, assuming you by some means handle to outlive the preliminary ordeal.
The Fast Aftermath: A Style of Terror
The primary sensation would doubtless be completely repulsive. Zombie flesh would not style like rooster. It will doubtless be a rancid, metallic taste, with a texture starting from mushy to stringy, relying on the stage of decomposition. Your rapid response would doubtless be gagging and vomiting, a determined try by your physique to expel the offensive materials.
Brief-Time period Results: A Race Towards Rot
Inside hours, the signs of extreme meals poisoning would manifest. Violent vomiting and diarrhea would result in speedy dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. Fever, chills, and muscle aches would wrack your physique as your immune system battled the bacterial invasion. Relying on the character of the fictional zombie pathogen, signs of an infection may additionally start to seem, starting from flu-like signs to quickly progressing neurological harm.
Lengthy-Time period Penalties: The Value of Undead Delicacies
Assuming you survive the preliminary onslaught of an infection, bacterial toxins, and decaying flesh, the long-term penalties might be equally dire. If the zombie pathogen is transmissible via ingestion (as is the case in lots of fictional depictions), you may start to expertise the early levels of zombification. This might contain cognitive decline, elevated aggression, lack of motor management, and an insatiable longing for brains (or no matter your zombie lore dictates).
Even in the event you by some means handle to keep away from changing into a zombie your self, the mixed assault in your organs may go away you with everlasting well being issues. Liver and kidney harm may result in continual sickness, requiring ongoing medical care (which, in a zombie apocalypse, is prone to be non-existent). Neurological harm from toxins or prion-based infections may end in irreversible cognitive impairment.
Actual-World Parallels: Classes from Historical past and Science
Whereas zombies are fortunately fictional, the risks of consuming contaminated or decaying flesh are very actual. Historical past and science present chilling examples of the implications of such practices.
Cannibalism and Kuru: A Prion Illness Nightmare
The illness Kuru, discovered within the Fore folks of Papua New Guinea, is a stark reminder of the risks of cannibalism. Kuru is a prion illness, much like Mad Cow Illness, that’s unfold via the consumption of contaminated mind tissue. It causes extreme neurological harm, resulting in lack of coordination, dementia, and in the end, demise.
Scavenging in Famine Conditions: A Determined Gamble
All through historical past, folks going through hunger have resorted to consuming questionable meals sources, together with decaying meat. Whereas typically crucial for survival, these acts all the time carry a big threat of sickness and demise as a consequence of bacterial contamination and toxins.
Mad Cow Illness: The Animal Kingdom’s Warning
Mad Cow Illness (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE) gives a contemporary instance of the risks of consuming contaminated tissue. This prion illness, which impacts cattle, might be transmitted to people via the consumption of contaminated beef, inflicting a variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob illness, a deadly neurological dysfunction.
Conclusion: A Ultimate Phrase on Undead Delicacies
Consuming zombie flesh is an extremely harmful proposition, a one-way ticket to a world of an infection, contamination, and decay. The potential penalties vary from agonizing meals poisoning to zombification, neurological harm, and in the end, demise.
So, the following time you are going through a zombie apocalypse and your abdomen begins to rumble, bear in mind the dangers. Persist with canned items, even when they’re previous their expiration date. Foraging for edible vegetation, or making an attempt to catch a squirrel, can be considerably much less harmful. Your physique will thanks – and you will be a lot much less prone to find yourself as a member of the strolling lifeless. Whereas zombies are fictional, the teachings about meals security, illness transmission, and the risks of consuming decaying matter are very actual. Perhaps this data will make it easier to survive…or at the least make higher choices when the lifeless begin to rise.
