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When Rick gets blown off the bridge and floats downstream with a giant wound through his back and abdomen, along with countless zombies that have been blown to bits. How does zombie blood not enter his bloodstream and cause the fever and die?

TheLethalCarrot
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metaDesign
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    I think you misunderstand, he's already infected...everybody is. – Paulie_D Mar 21 '19 at 11:48
  • See - https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/11326/why-are-walker-bites-in-the-walking-dead-fatal/81240#81240 – Paulie_D Mar 21 '19 at 11:52
  • I didn't mean infected with the zombie virus necessarily. I meant more broadly the process of a zombie bite or scratch or generally ingesting zombie bodily fluids, or what Robert Kirkman calls "Zombie gunk". This surely would enter the giant wound on Rick and cause eventual death? - Question edited – metaDesign Mar 21 '19 at 12:19
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    It probably did but anything NOT zombie virus could be treated with anti-biotics...when he rescued...No? – Paulie_D Mar 21 '19 at 12:25
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    @Paulie_D Since AMC is planning a whole trilogy with Rick, I think we'll find out what happened soon enough. – Hans Olo Mar 21 '19 at 13:02
  • So really there's 2 infections at play? A bite of the zombie that causes a fever which eventually results in death (Presumably incurable by antibiotics) and the zombie virus which cause the reanimation after death. This question might be useful - link – metaDesign Mar 21 '19 at 13:13
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    @PJBennett Well, the infection from the bite is realistic. For example, Komodo dragons are infamous for killing people with the zillions of bacteria they carry in their mouths and pass on during the bite. – Hans Olo Mar 21 '19 at 13:18
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    @Loki But Komodo dragon bites are not incurable. So am I to assume that a zombie bite contains bacteria so toxic that antibiotics have a difficult time curing it? If so, that's cool I guess, but doesn't it leave room for a cure for the "zombie bite"? So if enough time and resources could be put into testing antibiotics against the zombie gunk bacteria, could the bites actually be cured? – metaDesign Mar 21 '19 at 13:46
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    @Loki To be fair, Komodo dragons' infamy for this is misplaced :) They kill using venom, not bacteria. They confirmed that years ago, but the myth persists. – Misha R Mar 21 '19 at 14:17
  • I seem to recall something from Kirkman about how there is no "zombie virus." (can't find a source right now though.) Zombie bites and scratches infect people by virtue of the fact that dead bodies are crawling with all sorts of nasty things. The person dies from regular old infections and turns because everyone turns. What exactly made dead bodies start getting up and shuffling around is yet to be explained. – Steve-O Mar 21 '19 at 14:30
  • @PJBennett I haven't read the comic. and I stopped watching the show a couple of years ago, so I don't know if you're asking about the comic or the show. However, in the show there's at least one instance where somebody has survived/avoided the infection caused by a zombie bite by having the limb amputated, stopping it from spreading to the rest of the body. – Anthony Grist Mar 21 '19 at 15:11
  • @PJBennett "But Komodo dragon bites are not incurable." That maybe true in the real world, but in a post-apocalyptic world with no access to hospitals or medicine, every bite & wound etc has the potential to kill you... Also, remember that by the last season, most antibiotics people will be able to scavenge will have long expired. – Hans Olo Mar 21 '19 at 16:04
  • @Loki I agree it would be unrealistic to expect to cure someone in a post-apocalyptic world, but then in theory, a zombie bite is curable if it's just a regular infection? I'm sure with enough time and testing, someone in the right field could figure out what antibiotics could cure it, no? – metaDesign Mar 21 '19 at 16:12
  • Side note, the role of the venom vs. the bacteria in Komodo Dragons is far from settled. It is known that the Komodo Dragon venom is an anti-coagulant and paralytic, but it's also true that the bites result in worse infections, so likely both aspects play into the death of their prey (as well as the sheer mechanical trauma from when they bite a chunk out of their target). – FuzzyBoots Oct 04 '21 at 17:05

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