Now, here's a frightening twist "The Walking Dead" can use in its next season.

Seems like a number of well, misinformed, Chinese are posting online their fervent belief that Ebola is creating Zombies. This minority belief first broached among Chinese netizens in 2010 has since spread like wildfire thanks to the current Ebola epidemic in West Africa and the resulting wave of fearful gossip posted on Chinese social media sites.

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The deluge of posts claiming "Ebola Zombies" exist forced government run news agency, Xinhua, to take the unusual step of publishing a story debunking the theory those who die from Ebola will resurrect as brain-eating Zombies.

Chinese believers call this phenomenon "Zombie Disease."

Terrifyingly, the Chinese term for Zombie Disease is listed as a synonym for Ebola on the Chinese online dictionary, Baike.

Some believe this is because many of the victims of the Ebola Virus Disease exhibit gruesome symptoms such as bleeding from the eyes, ears and gums-all of which many people associate with Zombies.

Chinese that believe in Ebola Zombie Disease say a victim who seems to have already died from Ebola will, "after several hours or days, unexpectedly reawaken, entering into an extremely violent condition in which they bite any moving object, including humans and animals."

These Ebola Zombies, however, aren't as aggressive as the Hollywood Zombies we're used to. That's because people that die from Ebola have lost a great deal of blood, and this makes them weaker, not more aggressive.

On August 9, Xinhua published a story specifically addressing and debunking the spreading rumors of zombification caused by Ebola.

It also dismissed a potentially deadly theory that drinking a mixture of coffee and raw onions can cure the Ebola Virus Disease that has no known cure. The disease is 90 percent fatal.

Despite this official denial that Ebola gives birth to Zombies, some Chinese remained unconvinced.

One Chinese netizen demanded an "official response" from the Chinese government to the question of "How many people will become living dead?"

In reply, a member of a Chinese medical team in Guinea sent to aid in the fight against Ebola said, "Today I saw online friends writing that in its late stages, people infected with Ebola are like the 'living dead'."

Unfortunately, this well meaning healthcare worker said that based on his experience with at least one infected person, "there were no signs of (Zombie) aggression."