Infection: Unnamed flesh eating bacteria
Seen in: Cabin Fever (2002 and 2016), Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever (2009) and Cabin Fever 3: Patient Zero (2014)
Type: Bacterial infection, transmitted via fluids (e.g. blood, semen, vaginal excretions). Interspecies transmission possible.
Original Source: Unknown
The disease featured in the Cabin Fever movies is a particularly nasty one, not just because of the associated symptoms but because it very much mirrors the real life condition of necrotizing fasciitis (do not google pictures). In fact, director of the original 2002 film Eli Roth was inspired (or maybe traumatised is the word) by an infection he received in Iceland. Sound mixer for the 2002 film, John Neff, also experienced the real thing while in hospital.
Before we discuss the symptoms displayed, let’s look at the path of infection in its first appearance.
The first film, and the 2016 remake are being grouped together for this part as they have a near identical script, the remake being slightly shorter (and having a lot of the slurs removed). For these films, there is a limited amount of victims and they are confined to a single isolated location which makes the path of infection relatively easy to follow. The 2002 has some additional shots which also make it easier to confirm certain points of this path.
The protagonists are a group of five college students: Jeff, Marcy, Karen, Burt and Paul. They range from slightly insufferable to downright intolerable (I actually prefer the remake in this respect, they’re significantly less annoying). However, this part of the story actually starts before their arrival.
The very first victim that is seen of the infection is a dog. In the remake, its name is Pancakes. Pancakes the dog is only ever seen as a corpse. It’s never known how he caught the virus or how long it took to kill him, but in both versions his insides have been reduced to mush by the time his owner returns.
2002 Black Sky Entertainment
The owner is the second confirmed infected party. His name is Henry and he’s a hermit who lives in the wood. When he discovers his dead dog, his instinct is to touch it which prompts a sudden eruption of blood. Some of this goes into his mouth. It can be assumed that this is the point he became infected.
After a particularly nasty incident with the college students, Henry ends up dying and his body ends up in the town reservoir. It’s not made clear in the remake that Henry caused the infection to spread, merely implied that it has been spread via the water.
The first of the college students to fall sick is Karen, after drinking some of the infected water. During the film she drinks quite a few glasses of the infected water.
The next victim of the infection is another dog, one that actually lasts long enough to become a threat. It’s not made clear when the dog (Dr Mambo) become infected or how it happened, but it can be assumed slightly before Karen, as when he shows up she hasn’t started to display symptoms but the dog’s sudden aggression suggests its already in pain. In the 2002 version, it’s not even made clear if the dog is infected at all when it attacks, it’s only in the remake where it becomes steadily more bloody with each attack as its body begins to rot.
2016 Armory Films
Another possible victim here is the owner of Dr Mambo, a stranger going by the nickname Grimm (who is another deeply irritating character in the 2002 version and who is deeply creepy in the 2016 version). In the remake, he pretty much disappears after his introduction but in the original his body is found in a cave. It’s not clear if he was infected or if he got eaten by Dr Mambo, but given half his body is ripped off the latter seems likely.
The next infectee is a little harder to determine. It’s either Marcy or Burt. Burt’s infection is pointed out, as he breaks a bet to drink some water (they had previously decided to only drink beer). Marcy is shown drinking a cup of tea slightly before this (and in the 2002 film she also goes to take a bath), and she also mentions washing up their plates, presumably with the same infected water. Burt’s symptoms begin to show up first, however this might just be because he actively ingested it whereas Marcy had boiled the water (if she became infected by the tea).
However, it is very clear that Marcy has been infected as she has unprotected sex with Paul and even minimal touches leave visible bruising. It can be implied that Paul also gets the infection at this point, although he had previously washed his hand (where he had an open wound) under the same water… not to mention having had his fingers in one of Karen’s wounds and then later falling into the tainted water where a corpse is floating.
2002 Black Sky Entertainment
Burt also spreads the infection, after going for help and getting himself bitten by a local’s son, Dennis. Dennis is taken to the hospital (2002 version only) but it’s not confirmed if he’s successfully treated.
In the 2016 version there is also an additional infectee, albeit only in very early stages. Jeff had spent most of the film getting drunk and beligerant, but in the 2016 film he is shown to rinse his mouth out with the tap water and has a lesion on his hand near the end.
The 2002 version takes things a step further. Instead of Jeff showing any sign of infections, the viewer watches as two children gather tainted water and use it to make lemonade that they give to the local police force. The film ends before they are shown infected by it’s an easy assumption that they’re going to be the next to develop symptoms.
Speaking of symptoms, the ones featured here are pretty horrific. While it starts easy enough, with some mild nausea, sweating, chills, those kinds of things, it quickly goes south once the lesions appear. In the 2002 version, the first sores always seemed to develop around the groin area. This is reminiscent of actual flesh eating bacteria where the limbs and perineum are often the affected areas.
The films aren’t consistent with how long the lesions take to develop and how rapidly the body degrades once they do. Karen was shown to have developed a number of open sores on her thighs within 24 hours and got steadily worse. Marcy seemed fine for a prolonged period but upon developing the first sores, she rapidly developed much worse symptoms. While some of the damage she sustains is because she attempts to shave her legs and the skin is already starting to rot, in the 2016 remake during the very same scene ends up with her entire areola falling off with little provocation. Burt similarly accelerates in symptoms, noticing his first lesions and then within what could only be a few hours at most it has spread considerably, although not to the same degree as Marcy’s.
2016 Armory Films
One of the other symptoms, in addition to the steady rotting of flesh, is vomiting blood which suggests that the destruction of tissue isn’t limited to the external.
In the 2002 and 2016 films, none of the characters actually die of the disease. The only confirmed death is the dog at the start. It’s likely that, if the characters hadn’t met their end by other means, the disease probably would have ended up killing them either through the damage sustained or by sending their system into shock. It is shown in the sequel that removing an infected limb can stop it from spreading further and in the prequel, it is revealed that it’s possible for someone to be a carrier without suffering themselves.
I think what makes this one of the worst diseases seen on screen is that unlike a zombie virus or a rage virus, the victim is aware throughout. Based on what the characters say, it’s clearly exceptionally painful and there is nothing they can do except wait for it to eventually consume every part of them.
Transmission: A-
Curability: D
Death rate: C+
Horror Factor: A+
Biohazard Level
Be careful and don’t drink the water.
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