| “ | Pleurisy aspiration. (...) [The blood trails on his eyes are] from the internal lung pressure building up. Like if you shake a soda can and pop the top. Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose, and throat are the top. (...) No, these things happened before [the walkers] were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain.
―Caleb Subramanian explaining the flu to Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Hershel Greene and Bob Stookey.[src]
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The Prison Flu is an unknown virus strain that spread in the prison during the fourth season of AMC's The Walking Dead.
History[]
Violet is seen by Rick and Carl sick in the pigpen. Outside the prison fences, Rick spots a walker bleeding out of his eyes. It is likely the walker was a person succumbing of the disease. In the woods, Rick found a sick boar. Later, while taking a shower, Patrick collapses after succumbing to the illness.
Patrick attacks Block D of the prison after he becomes a walker. After the attack, Charlie is later seen to have died from the same illness as Patrick had. Karen and David are found to have been infected by the same virus. They are placed into quarantine. Later, their bodies are found dead and burned.
After the deaths of Karen and David, the groups decides on how to deal with the spreading infection. A number of people are later identified to have been infected including Glenn, Sasha, Dr. S., Jeanette, and Lizzie. Hershel and Carl try to find elderberries (Sambucus) from the surrounding forest to help with their symptoms. Hershel was able to find some berries and make tea with them which his wife had used in the past to lower fevers. He gives some to Dr. S. but it appears to be too late as he is now starting to cough up blood.
When Daryl, Michonne, Bob, and Tyreese are in the veterinarian college, there are walkers bleeding from the eyes. The survivors are worried about getting too close to these walkers, due to the possibility of catching the disease.
Several survivors infected with the flu began to die, including Dr. Subramanian. Glenn and Hershel are forced to face the reanimating corpses as the sick individuals are locked in their cells and Sasha is trying to recover. Glenn helps but succumbs to his symptoms and must rest. Hershel fights to survive the dead and help the sick alone until reinforcements arrive and medicine is delivered and administered to the remaining sick.
Symptoms[]
- High temperature/high fever
- Hemoptysis
- Nausea
- Weakness
- Subconjunctival Hemorrhage
- Epistaxis
- Hemoptysis
- Pulmonary Edema
- Pharyngitis
- Rhinorrhea
- Myalgia
- Cephalgia
Cases[]
Survivors[]
.png "Extra5 (Internment).png (387 KB)")
.png "Extra8 (Internment).png (491 KB)")
.png "Extra7 (Isolation).png (685 KB)")
Casualties[]
.png "Extra25b (The Suicide King).png (346 KB)")
.png "Extra41 (The Suicide King).png (205 KB)")
.png "Extra6 (Internment).png (594 KB)")
Related Deaths[]
- Greg
- Chloe
- Mr. Richards
- Woodbury Resident
- Ryan Samuels
- Owen
- Eryn (Possibly)
- Karen
- David
- Noris
- Owen's Mother
- 7 unnamed prison survivors
Appearances[]
TV Series[]
Season 4[]
Trivia[]
- According to Gregory Nicotero, during the second episode of the fourth season of Talking Dead, the inspiration for the flu was the Spanish Influenza that killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people during the early 20th century.
- The flu shares many similarities with Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
- Though the flu is no longer active within the prison group (due to everyone either being killed by the flu or treated), it's likely the flu is still active elsewhere.
- A version of the Flu also appears in The Walking Dead: Destinies.