Raleigh Outbreak
The Raleigh Outbreak was a fictional outbreak that occurred in Project Zomboid's timeline sometime in 1990, three years before the Knox Event in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina. It is frequently mentioned on WBLN News and can be heard on the occasional Home VHS tapes. The outbreak was responsible for the dismissal of Doctor Jeff Galbraithe, Chief Scientist at the Center for Disease Control, who would later criticize the CDC on WBLN News during the beginning of the Knox Event.
Outbreak similarities
The Raleigh Outbreak might have only affected live stock, creating the impression of a similar disease that was common among Americans at the time, mad cow disease (1980s-1990s). It can cause humans to get Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, slowly deteriorating their nervous system, cognitive decline and physical inability, slightly similar to the Knox Infection. As seen on WBLN news, we are able to see a concerned person talking about their wife, the CDC response and how it only affects livestock (even though the person mentioned that their wife had died because of it. Again, could just be a mutation of mad-cow disease and the human-caused Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease).
Within Project Zomboid, KnoxTalk Radio mentions the Knox Infection's similarity to Mad Cow Disease, spread by Spiffo's burgers. This may confirm that the Raleigh Infection was due to the Spiffo Corporation's influence within the area, especially due to it being the founding city of Spiffo's.
Origin
The Raleigh Outbreak may have been accidentally made/spread by Spiffo's, as heard on the Secrets of Spiffo's Special Sauce Home VHS, considering the name, it is safe to say Spiffo Corporation is responsible for this. Keep a note that this is when Spiffo has become international, being within the boundaries of the former Soviet Union, England, and China.
Below is a transcript from the Home VHS mentioned.
- And yet the Spiffo's Corporation has a secret it just won't tell anyone
- A key ingredient in each of its burgers.
- Spiffo's Special Sauce.
- Just what exactly are the components of this sauce?
- if they're safe, then why keep the recipe a secret?
- And is there any truth to the rumor that the sauce was changed...
- ...just before the UK's BSE crisis began?
- Perhaps the Spiffo' servers should be asking...
- Do you want LIES with that?
There is also a Home VHS tape that also mentions the Raleigh Outbreak (does not actually involve the name, although is given a new name, the EVNA virus.), 'Shows'. Here is an extract.
- ...where Richard Gershwin is on the scene.
- The flesh-eating ENVA infection is moving like wildfire.
- Hospitals are on lockdown.
- Panic in the streets, zero response from the promised military intervention.
- Fifty new cases confirmed yesterday
- The blame of the finger is being pointed squarely at...
- ...government laboratories situated here in the Triangle area.
- The Center for Disease Control has scientific...
- Three. Seven. ...Eight. Nine. Two. Eight. Zero. Nine. ...Eight.