Yes, the zombie apocalypse likely will never happen. But reading World War Z and watching the Walking Dead have got me interested. Based on our current-day knowledge of medicine, are there any diseases or viruses or parasites or what have you that are present somewhere and known, and have the possibility of causing a so-called “zombie apocalypse”? I’m talking of a disease which is capable of mass-infection, control of a host, aggressive behavior, and general chaos, to name a few traits.
Well, there is a fungus that that literally mind-controls ants and turns them into this. Scores 3 out of 4 on your list.
Rabies is not a bad candidate if you have to choose something from real life. You could imagine a modified strain causing something similar, but it would not quite be the As-Seen-On-TV apocalypse.
The biggest obstacle to a real zombie apocalypse is that diseased people still die- of thirst, hunger, infection, cold, blood loss, etc… IRL the “zombie” plague would be over in a few months after everyone who contracted it died from being unable to care for themselves. Totally unlike the perpetual-motion animated corpses of fiction.
Cracked has you covered - from neurotoxins to nanobots, why a zombie apocalypse could actually happen.
Before you panic too much, reasons a zombie outbreak would fail, quickly.
I can’t answer the OP’s question but I have read a couple of zombie books that feature"fast" zombies. The premise is they have some sort of virus or prion (Mad Cow like) that destroys humans higher reasoning and turns them into aggressive cannibals. No disease effects besides the brain damage. They are not dead or able to shrug off physical damage. They are just as physically capable as humans and do have some animal like cunning including hunting in packs. They also reproduce. Scary because it is remotely plausible and they are much more capable.
Sounds interesting! Could you name a book or two, please?
World War Z is the best zombie book I’ve read. It’s told through a series of interviews with survivors from the zombie outbreak, really great reading. They’re making a movie based upon it soon with Brad Pitt but don’t let that discourage you from reading the book, it’s quite different from the movie and a lot better.
Also if you’re interested in watching a good zombie film I highly recommend 28 Days Later.