How to Design a Plague that Causes Insanity?

Has a loose base in this earlier question of mine, although today we will be working with modern (roughly) tech levels and bacteria. It was pointed out in the accepted answer that bacteria might be better at causing my desired symptoms because at large they are already developing resistance to many antibiotics.

I have a story in which my characters find themselves returning from a camping trip to find society in the process of breaking down. Why is it breaking down? Well, it all started in an American biological weapons lab in Uganda...

Background:

A strain of antibiotics resistant Bubonic Plague discovered in a small village was being experimented with in an effort to make it deadlier. In short it worked, but the downside was that it was not very contagious and could be contained using standard quarantine procedures.

It was designed to not only cause swollen lymph nodes but to also induce mild insanity that causes rage(think enraged schizophrenia). People infected have a two day incubation period, after which both the physical and physiological symptoms start to kick in. By the time the infected go terminal they are raging lunatics.

To make things worse, a terrorist sleeper agent disguised as a lead scientist who miraculously cleared the 48 hour long screening added genes that make it airborne. He then managed to sneak it out and release it in the surrounding villages before his treachery was discovered and he was promptly shot.

If you want, you can liken the infected to zombies (the worst kind: the kind that generally know how to use guns!). They do possess rudimentary communication skills and can (in theory, at least) coordinate ambushes and whatnot.

Question:

How would I go about designing a strain of Yersinia Pestis that achieves the desired effects in the background?

I am interested in exactly how I could go about getting the bacteria to the brain and what they would have to do that could cause the mild insanity above.

I am also interested in determining how plausible the scenario above is and patching it up to make it more realistic (so along with your critique I am open to suggestions).

posted about 9 years ago

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