Infection is the biggest threat to players in Project Zomboid. If you’re infected, there’s only a limited amount of time before you die and turn into a zombie. Despite it being a death sentence, rumors persist that there’s a way to cure the Infection in Project Zomboid and prevent zombification.
We’ll look at how infections work in Project Zomboid and whether there’s any way to stop it below.
How does Infection work in Project Zomboid?
You can only get infected in Project Zomboid by taking damage from a zombie attack. You will never be randomly afflicted with the ailment, so you only have to worry about it if a zombie has successfully attacked you.
The tricky part about Infection is that the game never explicitly tells you if you’ve contracted the zombie virus. Instead, if you’re attacked by a zombie you’ll have to keep an eye on your health panel for the following injuries:
- Scratch: 7% chance of Infection.
- Laceration: 25% chance of Infection.
- Bite: 100% chance of Infection.
If your character is infected in Project Zomboid, they’ll experience the following symptoms:
- Immediate: Fever
- 1-4 Hours: Anxiety increases.
- 5-12 Hours: Queasy (Stage 1) Slight health loss
- 13-24 Hours: Nausesous (Stage 2) Moderate health loss
- 25-48 Hours: Sick (Stage 3) Severe health loss
- 49-71 Hpurs: Fever (Stage 4) Critical damage
- 72 Hours+: Death and reanimation
The above timeline isn’t rigid, and every player will experience the Infection differently. There are also two traits that affect how fast or slow a character succumbs to the Infection:
- Resilient: -25% infection rate.
- Prone to Illness +25% infection rate.
Of course, it would be ideal to skip all this and just cure the Infection outright. But is that possible?
Can you cure the Infection in Project Zomboid?
You can’t cure the Infection in Project Zomboid. Despite rumors to the contrary, as of Build 41, there is no mechanic in the game for curing Infection. If you want to add a way to prevent zombifications, you can add mods to the game that allow you to create a vaccine.
However, there are plenty of rumors about surviving or curing an infection. In older versions of the game, there was a 4% chance to survive a bite, but that’s been removed. You also can’t prevent Infection by disinfecting the wound, drinking bleach, or sleeping more.
