Zombie Alert

If you thought zombies only exist in movies and Michael Jackson videos, think again.

If you thought zombies only exist in movies and Michael Jackson videos, think again. There may be a potential zombie in all of us. Recently, after instances of cannibalism in the US, there was wild speculation that a zombie virus was responsible for it. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) then released a statement to Huffington Post that ‘CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms’. But it prompted news portals to point out a 2008 study, which had said that we may just turn into zombies one day. The Discover Magazine article titled, ‘Zombie animals and the parasites that control them’, named the single-cell Toxoplasma gondii as one such parasite. It alters the brain-chemistry of rats to make them want to seek out cats. From cats, the parasite comes into contact with humans through cat faeces (undercooked food is the other route). Twenty per cent of all Americans have the parasite, though they have not become zombies yet. However, the parasite is also linked to neuroticism, increased aggression and schizophrenia. Did anyone just remember Zombieland?

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Aastha