Some questions about death and infection rates

[tamtrible]

time: nowish; place: in the general vicinity of Washington and Oregon, at least initially

Comments

[adafrog]

Another thing you need to know is how many people innoculated get the illness. Eg. 10 people can be infected with strep throat, but not all will get the illness-depends on amount of innoculation each person got, their own immune system, etc.

[marycatelli]

Plus the peril of asymptotic carriers.

[moon_custafer]

From the OP's description, it sounds as though all the infected are asymptomatic until something else kills them.

[tamtrible]

Exactly. The zombie fungus basically bides its time until you're dead. You have *slight* symptoms (you'll find yourself craving protein a little bit more, as the fungus is stealing some of yours), but other than that you could be infected for years without realizing it unless you were actually tested.

[tamtrible]

Pretty nearly everyone who gets a full "dose" of healthy zombie spores (that is, has direct contact between a wound or mucus membrane and, say, at least 5 ml of fresh bodily fluids from a zombie or infected person) will become infected. More cursory contact (eg an infected person kissing a small cut) may or may not lead to infection depending on how robust your immune system is, and so forth.