BY GEORGE NAVA TRUE II
“THEY’RE coming to get you, Barbara,” says one of the characters of George A. Romero’s independent horror film, “Night of the Living Dead,” before he is attacked by a zombie.
With those words, Romero introduced the world to the flesh-eating corpses that have become a staple of many horror movies, TV series, comics, and stories.
Made on a budget of $114,000, the film was initially criticized when it was released in 1968 for its explicit gore (which is pretty tame by today’s standards). But “Night of the Living Dead” became a cult classic and earned more than 250 times its budget. It was highly acclaimed by film scholars and critics and is still regarded as one of the best films of its time 50 years after its release.
In 1999, “Night of the Living Dead” was selected for preservation by the US National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Following the success of his first zombie flick, Romero went on to make five other dead films even as his original film inspired a lot of remakes, zombie movies, and video games.
What’s funny is that Romero himself never thought of the undead cannibals as zombies, and the word is never mentioned in his groundbreaking film. The term was applied by fans and film critics, apparently about Haitian folklore.
In Haiti, a zombie is a dead body reanimated mostly through witchcraft. Modern zombies, on the other hand, are brought back to life through radiation, mental disorders, parasites, and other science-fictional means.
Zombie apocalypse
In many zombie movies, viewers are offered a glimpse of the dreaded zombie apocalypse where the entire world is overrun by these flesh-eating creatures. With the emergence of new diseases like COVID-19 that threaten to wipe out the human race, the question in most people’s minds is: Is such a scenario possible? Will the day arrive when real zombies dominate the earth?
For now, the answer is “no”, but one disease that affects the wildlife in some areas of Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, South Korea, and the United States, appear to point in that direction. That condition is called chronic wasting disease (CWD) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is worried that it might spread to humans.
CWD or zombie deer disease is a prion disease that affects free-ranging and farmed deer, elk, reindeer, and moose. Prions are proteinaceous infectious particles or bits of misfolded protein that have the ability to spread and create different diseases.
Zombie deer disease was first reported in the late 1960s and is currently found in 24 US states as well as other countries. The CDC said wildfire in other parts of the world might have the disease, but this is hard to confirm in the absence of strong animal surveillance systems. For this reason, the CDC said more animals could be infected.
No treatment for zombie disease
Like Romero’s zombies, infected animals develop symptoms a year later. These include lack of energy, rapid weight loss (wasting), stumbling, and other neurologic symptoms. The disease is fatal to animals of all ages, and there are no treatments or vaccines at present. Some infected animals die even without developing CWD.
The good news is that CWD has not spread to humans yet. But the CDC said studies show it can infect squirrel monkeys and laboratory mice that carry some human genes. Other animals might get it if they consume the meat or brain tissue of infected animals (even those without symptoms) or touch their brain or body fluids.
This was observed in 2009 by Canadian and German scientists who said that the infection could spread to macaques, a monkey that is genetically closer to man than other animals. As such, people may also be at risk – the reason the World Health Organization has warned the public not to eat infected meat.
Since CWD prions can remain in the environment for a long time even after an infected animal has died, the CDC said that this contagious disease may spread to other animals if they come in contact with body fluids like blood, feces, saliva, urine, or contaminated soil, food, or water.
How to prevent zombie disease
Because it takes years for symptoms of CWD to appear, ongoing studies can’t easily determine if humans are at risk. If a connection is established, the CDC said the infection could show up in people who consume deer and elk meat in areas where CWD is present. A survey showed that 20% of US residents have hunted deer or elk and two-thirds of those surveyed admitted eating this.
To lessen your chances of getting CWD, the CDC recommends the following when hunting in places where the disease exists:
* Check with state wildlife and public health authorities if testing of animals is recommended or required
* Don’t shoot, handle, or eat meat from deer and elk that appear sick, act strangely, or are found dead (roadkill)
* Don’t use household knives or other kitchen tools for field dressing (removing internal organs of the hunted game)
* Test the deer or elk for CWD before eating the meat. A negative result is no guarantee that the animal is not infected, but it can reduce your risk of getting the disease
* If you like your deer or elk to be commercially processed, have this done individually to avoid mixing meat from multiple animals
* If your animal tests positive for CWD, do not eat meat
* Minimize how much you handle the organs of the animal, especially the brain or spinal cord
* Wear latex or rubber gloves when field dressing the animal or handling the meat
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National Press Club and Philippine Dental Association awardee George N. True II has written two bestsellers based on his popular column that has been running for almost 40 years. For questions about health, email geogenavatrue@yahoo.com./PN
