Rage virus

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[edit] Overview

The Rage Virus is a fictional disease that is used as the primary antagonist in the films "28 Days Later" and "28 Weeks Later" and was originally created by British novelist Alex Garland. The films portray how the disease quickly destroys Britain's population and eventually spreads into mainland Europe.

[edit] Infection and Symptoms

The Rage Virus is first passed onto humans when animal rights activists release an infected chimpanzee that is being used by scientists for experimentation. That chimpanzee infected all of the animal rights activists and the scientist who caused the infection of all of mainland Britain. The Rage virus is spread through bodily fluid, mainly saliva and blood, and is capable of infecting its host within a matter of seconds, regardless of the point at which it enters the body. Even the smallest amount of blood or saliva is sufficient for infection. Rage seems to have similar symptoms to rabies, in that it affects the brain and central nervous system. However, the virus is unique in that it is able to exert control over its victims, driving them into an uncontrollable rage and compelling them to infect or kill anyone who does not already have the disease. Because of this, and the incredibly short incubation period of the virus, a single rage victim can infect a crowd of several hundred in a matter of minutes. Rage victims become violently ill, vomiting copious amounts of rage infected blood and bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth. Whenever they get a hold of a person, they either bite or vomit blood upon them. They become delirious and completely incapable of emotion or reason. Their eyes also become completely bloodshot. The people infected with the Rage virus are technically humans, not zombies, due to the fact they need food, water, oxygen, and blood and do not moan, along with the fact that they run, not typical to zombies.. The only people who can survive the Rage virus are asymptomatic carriers, who are heterochromatic, or have eyes of 2 different colors. They can spread the virus, but do not attack normal humans and maintain all of their normal functions.

[edit] Cure and Vaccine

In the films, there is no known cure or vaccine for Rage, nor does the body have any way of fighting off the disease. Rage victims do not necessarily die of rage, but because the virus robs victims of their natural instinct to consume food and water, they naturally die of starvation (supposedly after 28 days). The common response by humans when confronted by a rage victim is to kill them before they can infect anybody else. However, in "28 Weeks Later" Scarlett Ross talks of developing a possible vaccine when Don's wife Alice, proves to be infected with the disease but is showing no symptoms, and is therefore immune (an asymptomatic carrier). The cause of this appears to be linked to her heterochromia (one of her eyes is blue while the other is green), which her son Andy has inherited, making him immune as well. However, Alice is later killed when she accidentally infects her husband Don, and her body is incinerated by a napalm bombardment ordered by Brigadier General Stone. When Andy is infected, his immunity causes the disease to spread to France and mainland Europe when he is taken across the English Channel, and it is unclear whether or not a cure can now be developed successfully in the ensuing panic. It is likely this disease will spread through Europe, Asia, and Africa due to the infection rate and how quickly one Rage-infected person can turn into hundreds or even thousands. However as stipulated in the film geograpical barriers do count in infection, increasing the liklihood of isolated non-infected regions or another full quarentine