Zombie disease. Scientists are sounding the alarm: a "zombie disease" has penetrated the United States

In the United States, cases of infection with leishmaniasis, the so-called "zombie disease", have been recorded. Presumably, she came to America from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. Militants in these countries do not clean up corpses dead soldiers, and left to rot right on the street, which contributes to the reproduction of flies and microbes. In the United States, it is mostly soldiers who come into contact with the bodies that become infected.

Migrants in Russia: Danger or Necessity?

- How dangerous is it?

Leishmaniasis is an endemic disease. In other words, in certain areas it is always there. The places closest to Russia are our republics: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. This disease has existed for thousands of years, it is one of the oldest that ancient people still suffered from. That is, there is nothing new in this. It is always there, for example, in the Arab countries, in Morocco, in Syria, in Iraq. It exists everywhere. It was even once called the "Flower of the East". Therefore, local people get sick of it.

This so-called cutaneous leishmaniasis. Ulcers form on the skin. As a rule, they are easily cured. And even without treatment, sometimes they heal on their own. The problem is that scars form in their place after treatment. This is the first. They are transmitted only by mosquitoes. These are not mosquitoes. The mosquito looks like a mosquito, but it is much smaller. A person usually does not feel the bite of a mosquito, but feels itchy, as after a mosquito bite.

Now about the delivery. They can deliver anywhere. Why is ISIS necessary? (an organization banned in Russia. - Ed.) ? Somehow, tourists vacationed in Morocco and brought it back, I wrote a scientific article on this subject. That is, tourists can simply bring this disease to us. Then, our Tajiks and Uzbeks can come. But for us, this disease is not dangerous, because we do not have mosquitoes.

“What about those left to rot in the street?”

“That has nothing to do with the case at all. Do people walk the streets? They go. Mosquito attacks them, sucks blood and passes it to another person.

Here is what could be. The fact is that now migration is coming from these regions. Previously, it was less, but now it will be more, maybe it is already coming - from Syria, Iraq, etc. And they can bring this leishmaniasis here, but they will get sick themselves, not us. Once again, this disease is not dangerous for us.

Does that mean it's not passed on to us?

- It is transmitted. But only mosquitoes. But we, thank God, do not live in a mosquito area. If there are no mosquitoes, there will be no transmission.

— An effective strategy no fight?

There must be a fight here. Only with what? Destroying mosquitoes is an almost impossible task. It is necessary to dry swamps, reservoirs. I live in the center of Moscow, and mosquitoes fly around me. Well, how to destroy all the mosquitoes?

Moreover, mosquitoes not only carry leishmaniasis, they suffer many other diseases, fevers, etc. That is, the fight against them is, in fact, the fight against nature, in a certain sense.

When I give lectures for tourists, I always warn you: when you come to rest, you need to take repellents with you and spray the room.

First you need to decide what all these signs of a zombie are. Probably the biggest symptom known to be literally dead has nothing to do with real medical parallels, so we will limit ourselves to only those diseases that make people look like the living dead. These include putrefaction and dead flesh, a trance-like state that robs a person of any cognitive function, an inability to communicate in ways other than moaning and mooing, a slow shuffling gait, and a desire to try. human brains Or at least bite someone.

Is there one such disease that includes all these features? No. But there's a whole bunch of diseases that have some of these signs and it's scary enough.

Sleeping sickness

The scary thing is that there are still no vaccines or ways to prevent the spread of infection if a person is bitten by a tsetse fly. Even currently available treatments are of little benefit. Melarsoprol is one of the available funds treatment, but it is over fifty years old and contains enough arsenic to kill one in twenty people who are treated with this remedy. And even if a person survives after that, there is still a risk that he will pick up this disease again.

About 50,000-70,000 people die from sleeping sickness every year, although the figure could be much higher. In Uganda, one in three people is at risk of contracting the disease, leaving about six million people at constant risk of infection. So every year we have about 50,000 samples of the living dead, although they don't stay that way for very long.

Rabies

There is no such disease, mental or physiological, that causes people to eat other people, according to at least, medicine of such diseases is not known. (cannibalism does not count) mental illness but rather part of some kind of mental disorder). There are certain culturally specific mental states, a wendigo psychosis found among Native Americans. This is one of best examples that people think they're becoming cannibals, that's all.

Although rabies under certain conditions can resemble certain conditions, like zombies, when they feel like eating human brains. The rabies virus causes severe inflammation or a brain tumor, it is almost always transmitted through bites from infected animals. Approximately 55,000 people die each year from rabies. most of of these deaths occurs in Africa and Asia. Even though vaccines for rabies exist, they must be given before symptoms appear in order for the patient to survive.

Again, the symptoms of rabies are very similar to those of a zombie: complete or partial paralysis, mental disorder, confusion and strange behavior, obsession and, in the end, frenzy. Not all symptoms may appear, but a patient can easily be identified as having rabies if he cannot think and communicate clearly, has difficulty walking, and exhibits an aggressive obsession that takes the form of attacks on people.

Although such a zombie-like patient is possible with medical point view, it's actually not real. Human-to-human transmission of rabies is very rare and most often occurs due to insufficient complete examination before organ transplant.

Necrosis

Anyone who is familiar with the Greek roots already knows what the matter is: necrosis is death, namely, certain groups of body cells until the complete death of a person. Technically, it cannot be called a disease, rather, it is a condition caused by many various reasons. Cancer, poisoning, injury and infection can be possible reasons premature cell death.

If we want to literally describe the living dead, then a patient with dead tissue might be the closest equivalent of a zombie. After all, a patient suffering from necrosis is technically half dead, although he is still alive in many other important parts of the body (brain, heart, and other vital organs) that we associate with life.

If caused externally, the necrosis sets off a series of events that can even lead to negative influences apart from the affected area. Dead cells stop sending signals nervous system, dead cells can release dangerous chemical substances damaging neighboring healthy cells. If the lysosome membrane inside the cell is damaged, enzymes can be released that also harm the cells around.

This chain reaction can cause the spread of necrosis (and if it spreads over a fairly large area, then this is already gangrene) and, in the end, the outcome can be fatal. The only way that can help in this situation is the removal of dead body parts. If the dead area is too large, then amputation may be necessary.

The good news about this situation is that necrosis is not contagious, meaning it can't cause a zombie outbreak. .

“In addition to military personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan, leishmaniasis is also a common disease among ecotourists traveling to Central and South America. timely diagnosis and right strategy combating it is vital to us," said Naomi Aronson of the Medical University in Bethesda (USA).

In April last year, reports began to circulate in the world media about the mysterious "jihadist disease" spreading among the inhabitants of those parts of Syria that were occupied by the forces of the Islamic State - an extremist group banned in the Russian Federation. This disease, according to eyewitnesses, literally made the person infected with it rot alive, and this process began with the face.

Both diseases lead to approximately the same results and are equally fatal for their carriers, which prompts doctors to look for ways to protect the population of the Middle East from this infection. To date, according to the editors of the journal PLoS One, several thousand people in the conflict zone at once are carriers of leishmaniasis and fasciitis.

Aronson and her colleagues say that in recent months, several people in Texas and Oklahoma have sought help with symptoms resembling leishmaniasis. This prompted scientists to study possible sources of infection in the territory. North America where flies and mosquitoes spreading it do not occur.

Accordingly, the sources of infection in this case differ - in the Middle East, as scientists suggest, mainly US Army personnel who come into contact with the bodies of those who died from this disease become infected, and in South America - wildlife tourists.

The treatment and diagnosis of all these types of Leishmania differ from each other, which physicians must consider when asking patients about where they have been or served. In addition, the authors of the article recommend travel agencies advise their clients to use insect repellents when traveling to Brazil and other regions South America, and in the presence of the slightest signs of illness, seek help from doctors.

Would you believe me if I told you a zombie anecdote... a real one? old story, deliberately forgotten, a disaster that could destroy the world and turn us into zombies! No, this is not nonsense and not deceit, but mystical story and now I will tell you.
In 1915 suddenly appeared strange disease, completely confusing doctors. The epidemic spread quickly and it seemed impossible to find patients with the same symptoms. Scientists will call this disease encephalitis lethargica or European sleep disease, because people who suffer from it become unnatural and lose the concept of time and space. Their condition seems to be lulled.
At the height of the epidemic, five million people are infected. About a third of the victims die very quickly from the onset of the disease, and the rest fall into a deep coma from which they do not come out. Some patients suffer from insomnia, dying from lack of sleep. The survivors have serious consequences: many will begin to develop problematic behaviors, they are described as impulsive, provocative, arrogant, rude people. They no longer feel anything and do not communicate through emotions. Often these people experience terrible tremors.

The doctor who dealt with the disease wrote: “The waiting rooms are filled strange people and frozen figures, human statues, motionless like stones… a terrifying sight.”
Some of the patients are completely psychotic, their eyes are empty in every sense, and the back of their head is steep. People have difficulty moving around and do not respond when someone speaks to them. Unusual movements constitute one of the most common complications of the Encephalitis Lethargica epidemic. Patients walk in circles and are forced to spin around until they fall or hit a wall.
In 1927 the epidemic disappeared, ending as abruptly as it began.
However, numerous victims did not recover. And in 1969, 40 years later, Dr. Oliver Sachs realized that he could gather together some of his patients, who numbered about eighty. Always sloppy, inexpressive, frozen - that's how they looked. The doctor wanted to test on patients new drug against Parkinson's disease: L-dopa. The result was amazing… the “statues” came back to life. People regained the ability to talk, walk and think freely.
It is strange that many patients again began to behave as in the 20s. Some could not imagine that 40 years had passed. People tried to have fun, and in the waiting rooms, previously filled with terrifying silence, everything suddenly began to bustle. But happiness did not last long. During the day, "their joy became madness, riot and madness". It's about not only about erratic gestures, but also about strange tics, movements, ideas. Patients became more and more complex in behavior, capricious and even cruel. Then the doctor realized that this discovery leads to the most primitive kind of behavior that can ever be.

To date, the victims of the epidemic are dead, but encephalitis lethargica has not completely disappeared, continuing to mysteriously appear in isolated cases. And even in the 21st century, this disease is still very poorly understood.

edited news A. Padalecki - 10-11-2013, 02:24

A disease has entered the United States that causes a person to rot alive.

In April last year, reports began to circulate in the world media about the mysterious "jihadist disease" spreading among the inhabitants of those parts of Syria that were occupied by the forces of the Islamic State - an extremist group banned in the Russian Federation. This intcbatch the disease, according to eyewitnesses, literally made the person infected with it rot alive, and this process began with the face.

Both diseases lead to approximately the same results and are equally fatal for their carriers, which prompts doctors to look for ways to protect the population of the Middle East from this infection. To date, according to the editors of the journal PLoS One, several thousand people in the conflict zone at once are carriers of leishmaniasis and fasciitis.

In recent months, several people across Texas and Oklahoma have sought help with symptoms resembling leishmaniasis. This prompted scientists to study possible sources of infection in North America, where the flies and mosquitoes that spread it do not occur.

The treatment and diagnosis of all these types of Leishmania differ from each other, which physicians must consider when asking patients about where they have been or served. In addition, the authors of the article recommend that travel agencies advise their clients to use insect repellents when traveling to Brazil and other regions of South America, and seek medical help if they have the slightest sign of illness.