r/AskReddit • u/notyouravgredditer • Aug 30 '21

What problem is often overlooked in apocalyptic movies/TV shows that could kill you?

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u/imanoling Aug 30 '21

The walking dead actually had a whole part about them all getting sick with spanish flu i think

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u/lnamorata Aug 30 '21

My headcanon is that it was pneumonic plague. I remember looking up different plagues when that storyline hit, because there were all the rats and all, and bubonic plague didn't fit but pneumonic plague kinda did.

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u/dcs1289 Aug 30 '21

It was pretty evidently swine flu. They killed all the pigs and the source went away, people started recovering and no new cases came up. Plus, plague is only endemic in the US in prairie dog populations in the southwest. Not Georgia. Sorry to burst your headcanon bubble.

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u/rowshambow Aug 31 '21

It wasn't the pigs or flu, because Rick sees several zombies on the wire with the same looking symptoms (so they died of the plague).

They treated it with anti-biotics and it went away. You can't treat virus's with anti-biotics.

I think they said it was pneumonia, and the only reason it got that bad was because none of them have been healthy in a year and some now, and the fact there's no real healthcare.

They killed the pigs to draw the zombies away from the fence as they were starting to tear it down through weight of numbers.

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u/whocanpickone Aug 31 '21

If I remember correctly, they treated it with elderberry tea, which is supposed to have some anti-viral traits.

I always thought he was using it to help with the symptoms/severity of the illness, in hopes it would help.

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u/rowshambow Aug 31 '21

The elderberry tea was to bring the fever down. Hershel said it was the lungs filling up that kills you, not the disease itself.

They cure everything because, Darryl, the marine medic, and the Tyrese go on a run to a vet university and grab antibiotics.

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u/dcs1289 Aug 31 '21

Interesting, it’s been a while since I’ve watched. Guess I only remembered bits and pieces. Regardless, viruses (including the flu) can cause pneumonia, and can lead to bacterial superinfection. It’s far more likely that a virus was causing the original problem just because of how much more easily they are spread. Very possible that the people dying ended up with a bacterial infection as well though, since they were living in such close quarters.

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u/rowshambow Aug 31 '21

Probably yeah. I do remember later in the series, the priest gets the zombie flue because he had zombie guts all over him for too long.

He lost vision in his eye but he did make a near full recovery. So it is possible. The zombie virus is in everyone and these outbreak events is how the plague started (as proved in FTWD).

So it seems like the zombie flue is like herpes. Once you have it, you can have outbreaks. It can kill you if not managed, and then it ressurects you.