... but, yeah, it would have to affect childhood neurological development. Plus the drugs themselves would probably be not so great for young children, either, although it's possible that it could be stopped/reversed more easily in younger children, perhaps, because of more resilient and flexible brains and bodies? Not always, but young children might actually be able to shake it off, or carry it asymptomatically in a way that adults usually can't (which would, however, potentially make them contagious ... oh god, everything makes it worse).
I assume that, like good zombie viruses everywhere, it's transmitted through bodily fluids.
Possibly low levels of infection in very young children can be more or less managed by the developing brain's natural plasticity, so long as the infection set in early enough and wasn't overwhelming, though it might still present as some form of neuroatypicality once the child reached adulthood -- but if the infection did become rampant or happened after the brain stopped being so plastic, it would absolutely massacre the brain structure to the point where even if the person was treated later in life, there would not be a functional brain there. Or at least not a brain culturally recognized as functional.
Which could make it really interesting to have stories with people coming out of the pre-epidemic neuroatypical communities dealing with the new "AUTISM IS CAUSED BY ZOMBIES" rhetoric. Because you just know that would happen. Because people are awful.
Two thoughts on zombies and children: 1) It would be interesting if the virus actually did rewire most children's brains in a very similar way -- e.g., would they tend to feel constantly hungry? Would they be extra ambitious because the virus prompted them to go after something without stopping? Would they have a harder time recognizing other people as humans? (It kind of sounds like I'm going towards, "Does it predispose them to be psychopaths if they don't die first," which was not my original intent, but. It could also give them increased hyperexcitability, to make them move more and infect more people.
2) If children developed an immunity, a) they could try to get a vaccine out of that, and b) if they got infected early enough, maybe they could recover most of their mental faculties because of the plasticity.
3) And if that's the case, what if it became like the chicken pox? Infect them early; now you have almost all humans who's brain has been rewired by a this disease except for a few small groups who refused.
4) It... is probably more likely to be a fungus than a virus, in terms of rewiring brain patterns. I don't know that I've heard of many viruses that actually cause a change in behavior (aside from things like weakness), although admittedly I haven't researched it much.
(Not a super-detailed answer as it's late enough that my brain isn't being all conducive to super-detailed answers, but...)
Re: 3, I feel like that pings off an Octavia Butler novel. Which is not at all a bad thing. But she totally had a world where basically the entire population of Earth (except for the telepaths?) had this alien disease which more or less made them feral.
...re: 1, I feel like zombie-induced-Capgras-delusion should be a thing.
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chiming
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Date: 2015-12-07 03:17 am (UTC)From:... but, yeah, it would have to affect childhood neurological development. Plus the drugs themselves would probably be not so great for young children, either, although it's possible that it could be stopped/reversed more easily in younger children, perhaps, because of more resilient and flexible brains and bodies? Not always, but young children might actually be able to shake it off, or carry it asymptomatically in a way that adults usually can't (which would, however, potentially make them contagious ... oh god, everything makes it worse).
I assume that, like good zombie viruses everywhere, it's transmitted through bodily fluids.
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Date: 2015-12-07 03:34 am (UTC)From:Which could make it really interesting to have stories with people coming out of the pre-epidemic neuroatypical communities dealing with the new "AUTISM IS CAUSED BY ZOMBIES" rhetoric. Because you just know that would happen. Because people are awful.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-07 07:04 am (UTC)From:1) It would be interesting if the virus actually did rewire most children's brains in a very similar way -- e.g., would they tend to feel constantly hungry? Would they be extra ambitious because the virus prompted them to go after something without stopping? Would they have a harder time recognizing other people as humans? (It kind of sounds like I'm going towards, "Does it predispose them to be psychopaths if they don't die first," which was not my original intent, but. It could also give them increased hyperexcitability, to make them move more and infect more people.
2) If children developed an immunity, a) they could try to get a vaccine out of that, and b) if they got infected early enough, maybe they could recover most of their mental faculties because of the plasticity.
3) And if that's the case, what if it became like the chicken pox? Infect them early; now you have almost all humans who's brain has been rewired by a this disease except for a few small groups who refused.
4) It... is probably more likely to be a fungus than a virus, in terms of rewiring brain patterns. I don't know that I've heard of many viruses that actually cause a change in behavior (aside from things like weakness), although admittedly I haven't researched it much.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-07 08:52 am (UTC)From:Re: 3, I feel like that pings off an Octavia Butler novel. Which is not at all a bad thing. But she totally had a world where basically the entire population of Earth (except for the telepaths?) had this alien disease which more or less made them feral.
...re: 1, I feel like zombie-induced-Capgras-delusion should be a thing.