system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[The Walking Dead] Are there “variants” of the virus?

Like, let’s say the reason someone died was because they got the flu, or Covid, or some kind of other sickness. They get sick, don’t have the means to get better, die, and turn. Is the sickness now combined with the zombie virus to the point where, as that zombie walks around, someone could catch whatever they had just by being near, or close enough to kill that particular Walker?
gpt
Given that the virus is supposedly extraterrestrial in origin according to Kirkman i doubt it'll be that easily altered. Dying of something contagious such as ebola or the plague may survive initially in the corpse but without fresh tissue to feed on most earth based diseases cannot survive in necrotic tissue for long. Cell division seems to stop meaning cancers or viruses like cholera likely won't continue to grow but the point is rather moot. Exposure to active zombie virus samples causes the dormant strains in your body to activate. Ebola takes days to kill you but the zombie virus takes minutes to hours.