There is a parasite (I forget the name) that, when it infects a person (or a warm-blooded animal) starts living off the host and storing energy in sacs around the infection point. It often presents itself as tumours, as the sacs can get quite large. Between the sacs there is a voltage difference, it’s stored as chemical energy (like a battery with one side less electrons to allow for electron flow).
In severe cases, the parasite has had long enough to grow it’s own nerve pathways through the body that can be used like wires. At that point, the tumours are really advanced and enlarged and will usually kill the victim, if not before.
In an effort to spread itself to the next host, the parasite uses the stored chemical energy to activate muscles in the dead host and move the body around to find another host to infect. That’s where the whole ‘eating flesh’ thing in the movies come from, but it’s actually the parasite trying to break the skin and be able to jump to a new victim.
In reality, this stage only lasts a few hours but as long as the muscles haven’t deteriorated too much, it can be any ‘few hours’ movement within a couple days of death if the parasite is unable to immediately reinfect and instead waits for a period of time.
Maybe it’s microsporidia of some kind. Those can course Microsporidiosis and the infections look kinda like you described. but I can’t find any information about you becoming a zombie if you get the disease.
Yes, but not quite like the movies.
There is a parasite (I forget the name) that, when it infects a person (or a warm-blooded animal) starts living off the host and storing energy in sacs around the infection point. It often presents itself as tumours, as the sacs can get quite large. Between the sacs there is a voltage difference, it’s stored as chemical energy (like a battery with one side less electrons to allow for electron flow).
In severe cases, the parasite has had long enough to grow it’s own nerve pathways through the body that can be used like wires. At that point, the tumours are really advanced and enlarged and will usually kill the victim, if not before.
In an effort to spread itself to the next host, the parasite uses the stored chemical energy to activate muscles in the dead host and move the body around to find another host to infect. That’s where the whole ‘eating flesh’ thing in the movies come from, but it’s actually the parasite trying to break the skin and be able to jump to a new victim.
In reality, this stage only lasts a few hours but as long as the muscles haven’t deteriorated too much, it can be any ‘few hours’ movement within a couple days of death if the parasite is unable to immediately reinfect and instead waits for a period of time.
Maybe it’s microsporidia of some kind. Those can course Microsporidiosis and the infections look kinda like you described.
but I can’t find any information about you becoming a zombie if you get the disease.