Alice Harris' bloodshot left eye; the only apparent symptom of Infection seen in Carriers. (28 Weeks Later)
A Carrier is an extremely rare asymptomatic host of the Rage Virus who hosts the Infection and can transmit it to others but exhibits none of the normal symptoms themself. The only two known Carriers are Alice Harris and her son Andy - the former was killed and her body incinerated during the Second Wave of Infection (which she herself accidentally served as patient zero of), and Andy's status and whereabouts are unknown after he fled across the English Channel and the Rage Virus temporarily spread to France (implicitly through Andy).
Overview[]
Film Canon[]
28 Weeks Later[]
Rare, certain people, such as the heterochromic-eyed mother and son Alice and Andy Harris, can host the Rage Virus in their bodies without suffering any of the ravaging biological and cognitive effects of Infection that afflict any other human host, with Alice exhibiting no change in this immune condition over seven months after her body had picked up the Rage Virus. The only symptom of Infection that Carriers exhibit is the sclera in their left eye turning partially and permanently red and bloodshot. Major Scarlet Levy speculated that Carriers' immunity is caused by an obscure genetic abnormality. She furthermore believed that studying a Carrier's blood could be the key to finding a vaccine or possibly even a cure for the Rage Virus.
Carriers were completely unknown until Alice Harris was discovered by Operation Rising Dawn just before the Second Wave. Despite Scarlet's aforementioned hopes that a Carrier could be studied to develop vaccines or a cure against the Rage Virus, Alice was killed at the Second Wave's onset and her body incinerated during the Code Red firebombing. Her son Andy subsequently became a Carrier when he was bitten by his infected father, and his last known status and whereabouts were him fleeing aboard Flynn's rogue helicopter over the English Channel, before the helicopter was abandoned and the Rage Virus temporarily surfaced in France and mainland Europe within the following twenty-eight days.
28 Years Later[]
Carriers are not featured or referenced in the film, however other variants of The Infected, such as the Alpha's and Slow-Lows are.
Other Media[]
In the 28 Days Later comic series, Dr. Billingsworth of the black operation in Scotland already knew of Carriers months before the second London outbreak, indicating that there were other Carriers in the comics' continuity.
Trivia[]
- Though never specified or confirmed, some 28 Weeks Later fans have suggested that the genetic abnormality that gives Carriers their immunity to the symptoms of Infection may be the same one that causes the only two known Carriers' (Alice and Andy's) hetereochromic green-and-brown eye colour.