SOLANUM

Solanum

The guide attributes the zombie outbreaks described to a virus known as "Solanum". The disease was first recorded by Jan Vanderhaven, while traveling through South America. He described people who were infected with the disease as showing festering sores, mottled skin, and decomposing flesh. He also said they show no rational thought or recognition of anything familiar to them. They neither sleep nor drink water, and reject any food beside living prey, snapping at all who pass. A hospital orderly threw a living rat at an infected individual, who then consumed it whole.
Solanum is described as working by traveling through the bloodstream from the point of entry to the brain, where the virus replicates all cells in the frontal lobe, while destroying them. All bodily functions cease during this period, including respiration and heartbeat. The infected individual eventually is in a coma during this period and awakens as a zombie. The zombie will not need air, food, water, or even a heart to live. Their one and only goal will be to find and infect other individuals and the only way to stop that is to destroy the brain or remove the head. If the zombie is decapitated, the head still remains a threat.
The symptoms occur in this order. The timeline may be several hours off, depending on the size, number and location of the bites, and the composition of the victim.
Hour 1- Pain and discoloration of the infected area. Immediate clotting of the wound.
Hour 5- Fever between 99 F. and 103 F. Chills, slight dementia, vomiting, and acute pain in the joints.
Hour 8- Numbing of extremities and infected area, increased fever from 103 F to 106 F. increased dementia, loss of muscular coordination
Hour 11- Paralysis in the lower body, overall numbness, slowed heart rate
Hour 16- Coma
Hour 20- Heart stoppage, zero brain activity
Hour 23- Reanimation
Solanum is 100% communicable and 100% fatal. Contact with infected blood or saliva always result in infection. Ingestion of infected flesh results in permanent death unless the victim has open mouth sores. Solanum is fatal to any and all creatures, however humans are the only ones who will reanimate. Parasitic insects such as mosquitoes reject infected hosts 100% of the time. All animals will instinctively run, swim or fly away from zombies.