Wildfire Virus

The Wildfire Virus is the infectious disease that creates zombies in AMC's The Walking Dead Television Universe. The virus was discovered on April 15, 2010 and became a global pandemic by August 25, 2010 - which caused the end of modern civilization and the near extinction of the human race. The virus initially spread via airborne contagion, infecting the majority of the human population. Following death, the virus reanimates infected individuals into aggressive vectors for the virus, otherwise known as zombies or walkers, by reactivating the brainstem. Due to the high infection and mortality rate, the planet was overrun by the reanimated hosts of the Wildfire Virus after the global outbreak.
== Virology ==
When an infected host dies from any method, except extreme head trauma, the host will reanimate as the virus reactivates the brainstem and preserves most of its bodily functions to slow the decaying process. A deceased host can reanimate anywhere from three minutes to eight hours after death. As the brainstem begins to reactivate, violent and ravenous images invade the brain's thought process. Deceased hosts that died with violent thoughts and adrenaline have remarkedly shorter reanimation times than deceased hosts who died in a weaker state. Sex, age, race, and body mass of the deceased host have been theorized to affect the reanimation time, as well.
Due to the brainstem being the sole part of the brain that is reactivated, it causes the reanimated to regain movement and senses, but are deprived of higher thinking. The reanimated will act on a mindless animal instinct and aggression to feed - and will devour any living or recently deceased beings that are still fresh. They have no sense of self or control, and will kill anything that they discover alive. Their senses remain somewhat intact, but decay overtime. The reanimated can detect behaviors and characteristics that separate the living from the dead. The reanimated can also detect fast movement, light, loud sounds, smell, and physical sensations that alert them to living beings.
== Variants ==
During the global outbreak, French scientists in la Biomédicine DDMI experimented with cardiac plaques as a host-medium for steroidal therapies to jump-start the circulatory system in the hopes of short-circuiting the brain, or possibly regaining function to cause nerve confusion, as way of activating systems to work against reanimation. This experiment caused a new variant of Wildfire. The virology of the variant is mostly the same. However, the reanimation process is significantly accelerated to less than one minute. While the main Wildfire Virus is known to have a three minute reanimation time, most people reanimate at least one hour after death. Those reanimated with the variant have increased speed, agility, strength, aggression, and problem-solving intelligence than their original counterparts. Incidents have been recorded of the undead being able to climb walls, open doors, and interact with objects. There have also been cases of the undead remembering people, places, and objects from when they were alive. At some point, the variant became global - though it was more common in Eurasia than in the Americas.
== Transmission ==
Wildfire is a latent virus that spreads via airborne, and possibly droplet, contagions with a 99.9% infection rate. It spreads throughout the blood of the host and concentrates in the central nervous system. The Wildfire Virus becomes active when the host ceases all living functions, or when an active agent of the virus is introduced into the bloodstream.
Once a deceased host is reanimated, its bodily fluids contain an active agent of the Wildfire Virus - namely blood, saliva, skin, and viscera. Infection of the active agent is transmissible through biting, scratching, or contaminating an open wound of a healthy individual; such as a knife that was used on the undead and then deeply wounds a healthy individual without cleaning in between. If any of these fluids enter the bloodstream of a healthy individual, the active agent will invade the brain like meningitis and cause a cytokine storm. The adrenal glands hemorrhage, resulting in the brain and major organs to shut down, followed by death. Once the active agent spreads, it has a near 100% mortality rate.
The time from infection to death varies depending on the severity, placement, and number of bites - as well as the reanimated age of the undead and possible other conditions, such as blood loss. Ultimately, infection kills a healthy individual within 48 hours after exposure. Ingesting the active agent or exposure to the eyes can cause a serious, but many times treatable, infection, although this is suggested to simply be an illness caused by the bacteria that is present in the corpse rather than the Wildfire Virus itself. Similarly, contaminating a water source with infected blood can result in cholera, when ingested.
== Signs and Symptoms ==
There are no known symptoms when the Wildfire Virus is dormant. The following are symptoms of when an active agent of the virus enters a healthy individual:
* Dizziness
* Weakness and Fatigue
* Fever
* Delirium/Hallucinations
* Chills
* Nausea/Vomiting
* Pale Skin
* Diluted Pupils
* Soreness
* Fluid Discharge
* Spontaneous Aggression or Anger
* Fainting
* Hair Loss and Missing Scalp Pieces
* Dehydration
* Coughing up Blood
* Pale Yellow Sclera
* Internal Hemorrhaging
* Organ Failure
== Diagnosis ==
The only known diagnosis for the dormant Wildfire Virus is a blood test. Due to the infection rate, it's common knowledge that the entire human population is infected with the virus. The diagnosis for the active Wildfire Virus is observation of symptoms and signs of infection. Usual signs of infection are bite marks, fingernail scratches, or the contamination through an open wound.
== Treatment ==
There was no known cure for the Wildfire Virus. La Biomedicine DDMI was the only health agency close to finding an effective treatment in September 2010, due to them creating the virus and owning an incredible amount of data. However, the laboratory power grid failed and the facility was abandoned. The Center for Disease Control failed to create any treatment due to low morale and the building being compromised by the infection.
Following death, the deceased's brain must be penetrated or destroyed as soon as possible to prevent reanimation, eliminating the risk of contamination and exposure. When neutralizing the reanimated, the only method is extreme head trauma; which causes the host to permanently die. While dangerous to attempt, the removal of the reanimated's teeth and arms can cause them to enter a docile state, rendering them harmless.
For the active infection of the Wildfire Virus, all medical treatments do not work. It has a near 100% mortality rate. However, certain medicine can alleviate some of the symptoms for palliative care and can possibly extend the lifespan, although no one has survived past 48 hours after exposure but Mariana Walsh. The only known treatment for an active infection is amputation if infection is on the limb. The process has minutes before the virus spreads throughout the body.
In the event of infestation, camouflage is a means of survival and escape. Covering oneself in the fluids of a reanimated can result in producing a similar odor, as smell is a reanimated host's main method of detecting the living. Dressing in their blood and viscera is one option - although the blood can dry or be washed off, and can sometimes cause an infection if exposed. Other options include wearing the skin of the undead or tethering them after they have been rendered docile. Regardless of the method, one must also maintain a similar behavior such as shuffling and low sounds. Moving too fast or making too much noise can cause detection from the undead, despite being camouflaged.
== History ==
It is heavily implied the virus was created in France, originating from la Biomédicine DDMI by a group of scientists called the Primrose Team. A conversation between a scientist and a vigilante possibly reveals that the lab created the virus for experimental purposes.
The Wildfire Virus was discovered by the Center for Disease Control on April 15, 2010. While recorded incidents were initially scarce, cases were eventually discovered by the public within four months. Media outlets reported on a virus that caused aggression and cannibalism, others reported on incidents of dead people coming back to life. Many civilians dismissed these stories as sensationalist hype.
On August 25, 2010, the Wildfire Virus was declared a global pandemic by the CDC. The Primrose Team of la Biomédicine DDMI traveled to a conference in Toledo, Ohio in order to aid in fighting the virus. Meanwhile in France, the Violet Team experimented with cardiac plaques to short-circuit the brain rather than allow it to reanimate. This created an adverse variant that massively reduced the reanimation time and increased the aggression, strength, and intelligence of the undead. It quickly spread through Europe, and managed to spread to the American continents.
On August 27, 2010, the virus reached cataclysmic levels as the standard mortality rate began to reanimate and attack the living - causing civil unrest and the collapse of modern society as a result of massive panic, rioting, looting, widespread blackouts, communication jams, and overwhelmed emergency services. Most countries declared martial law within twenty-four hours of the fall in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. Two weeks following the global outbreak, military safe-zones became overrun.
In early September, la Biomedicine DDMI was reportedly close to finding a cure. However, with Primrose Team being in the U.S., the work was interrupted by vigilantes who prosecuted the scientists of la Biomédicine DDMI for their crimes of creating the Wildfire Virus and its variant. Most were imprisoned, although the French were unable to acquire the Primrose Team due to them being in America during the outbreak. Dr. Edwin Jenner then lost contact with the French scientists because of the takeover and realized that there was no one else working to fight the virus.
On September 9, 2010 at 0900 PST, the United States Army Command enacted the contingency plan known as Operation Cobalt, drafted in the event the main operation should fail or safe-zones prove difficult to defend. All military personnel were ordered to humanely terminate civilian refugees and withdraw from the safe-zones to military bases for further recollection of troops. At 2100 PST, all major urban areas were bombarded with chemical and napalm weapons. With no government or military power active, human civilization effectively collapsed on September 10, 2010.
During Operation Cobalt, Dr. Jenner's wife, Dr. Candace Jenner, was bitten when Atlanta and the CDC were overrun. Due to the difficulty of examining dead flesh, Dr. Candace Jenner elected to have her infection and reanimation be documented for study by her husband, Dr. Edwin Jenner. After her death and reanimation were recorded, Dr. Edwin Jenner shot Dr. Candace Jenner in the head and collected her brain samples for study.
On October 26, 2010, Dr. Candace Jenner's brain tissue samples were lost in a high-impulse thermobaric (HITs) fuel-air explosive decontamination employed by the CDC's virtual intelligence, Vi, following corrosive chemical leak. The CDC's gasoline reserves were exhausted and the facility lost power, causing the CDC to be destroyed in the HIT explosion on October 27, 2010, along with Dr. Edwin Jenner, to contain the spread of viruses stored in the lab.
Sometime in 2020, one of the scientists from the Violet Team returned to la Biomédicine DDMI in the hopes that the Primrose Team had also returned to continue their work in fighting the Wildfire Virus. The facility was still abandoned. After copying and viewing files from hard drives created by Dr. Edwin Jenner and Dr. Terry Ellis, the scientist was executed by the vigilante for her crimes of creating the virus and its variant.
== Research ==
The Wildfire Virus itself was created by la Biomédicine DDMI in France for unknown experimental purposes. It was discovered in April 2010 by the Center for Disease Control in the United States of America. Since then, research has been done on the virus leading up to and during the global outbreak. The scientists at the CDC were unaware of the virus's true nature or origin. Meanwhile, the scientists of la Biomédicine DDMI attempted to fight against the virus by using cardiac plaques in order to jump-start the circulatory system for the brain to divert and confuse the reanimation process. However, this led to a variant of the Wildfire Virus which drastically reduced the reanimation time and increased the intelligence and aggression of its host. Both la Biomédicine DDMI and the Center for Disease Control lost contact in October 2010. La Biomédicine DDMI was invaded by a group of vigilantes, and the scientists there were imprisoned. The Center for Disease Control was overrun and mostly abandoned, and eventually destroyed two months after the global outbreak by its own A.I. following the loss of power in an effort to contain biological hazards.
After the global outbreak and fall of human civilization, the Civic Republic began researching the virus in order to cure the disease, eliminate the undead as a mobile active threat, and delay or possibly even prevent the reanimation process altogether. This process continued to be studied by the Civic Republic throughout 2020. The other members of the Alliance of the Three from Portland, Oregon; Omaha, Nebraska and the Campus Colony were also working towards finding a cure, which culminated in a science exchange program with scientists sent to the Civic Republic Research Facility in Ithaca, New York to form a united scientific front. Most test subjects were compiled of living survivors outside the Alliance of the Three who were intentionally infected and trafficked by a contracted party in exchange for supplies. Other tests subjects were pulled from the Civic Republic Health and Welfare Center.
In 2020, one of the achievements at the Civic Republic Research Center, brought about by Dr. Leopold Bennett, was successfully fusing a biorecorder to the brain stem of a host, which in turn provided the scientists with troves of useful data, including behavioral patters that indicate the virus' responses to certain stimuli. With the assistance of Dr. T. Brooks Ellis and Hope Bennett, the scientists began infecting the dead with strains of fungi grown on necrotic flesh, specifically yeast. By modifying existing fungi, it accelerated the dead's rate of decay and neutralized them as active and mobile threats. Dr. Lyla Belshaw developed a chlorine gas with an intra-cerebral injection of algae-derived chemical extracts that delayed the time between death and reanimation to eight hours. Chlorine gas is lethal to inhale and was later used as a chemical weapon of mass destruction against the Civic Republic's own allies of Omaha and Campus Colony to eliminate stretched resources and to ensure martial law over the Civic Republic's citizens.