In the past few weeks, there's been a string of horrific tales of cannibalism and other zombie-esque behavior in the news. How to explain a handful of reports of people doing the unspeakable? One answer circulating around these days is that it must be parasites. And for some journalists, the question demands a call to the Centers for Disease Control to find out what they're hiding from us! 1. Andy Campbell of the Huffington Post asked the CDC if some kind of zombie virus was to blame for the recent attacks. On June 1, he reported on HuffPo's Politics page the following scoop: "CDC does not know of a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms)," wrote agency spokesman David Daigle in an email to The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post entitled Campbell's hard-hitting investigation, "Zombie Apocalypse: CDC Denies Existence Of Zombies Despite Cannibal Incidents." That's perhaps the finest deployment of the word despite in the history of journalism. The story, by the way, received 65,797 likes on Facebook. 2. The Daily Caller picked up Campbell's expose later that day, essentially reposting his whole piece. But Daily Caller reporter Michael Bastasch also salted his cut-and-paste with a few pieces of his own research. For example, Bastasch reports, some people "have claimed it was caused by the LBQ-79 virus." The Daily Caller headline: "CDC: No zombies, despite cannibal attacks." Can't those pointy-headed government pencil-pushers see what's in front of their own dismembered noses??? 3. Andy Campbell must have bitten Michael Bastasch's ear, because the idea of parasite-induced zombification has infected the editorial offices of the Daily Caller. On June 4, a minute before midnight, Josh Peterson, Tech Editor at the Daily Caller, posted a new story: CDC silent on zombie-inducing parasites that live in human brains Clearly, this story could not wait for the morning, presumably because zombies prowl the night. Here's how last night's story starts:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently denied knowing of “a virus or condition that would reanimate the dead (or one that would present zombie-like symptoms),” after a series of instances of cannibalism across the country were reported, but remains silent about the effect of zombie-inducing parasites that live in human brains.
