Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response
Power of Preparedness Zombie Preparedness
Wonder why zombies, zombie apocalypse, and zombie preparedness continue to live or walk dead on a CDC web site? As it turns out what first began as a tongue-in-cheek campaign to engage new audiences with preparedness messages has proven to be a very effective platform.

In keeping with CDC’s use of a potential Zombie Apocalypse as a vehicle to educate the public on Public Health Preparedness and Response, we will use the potential threat of a Zombie Epidemic to test your understanding of Epidemiologic Methods.

Review the below Zombie Epidemic scenario for the University. The following questions will lead you through how a Zombie epidemic could be studied. Both cohort and case-control study options will be explored.

Zombie Epidemic Scenario:

An outbreak of Zombie-ism has been reported at University. Zombie’s have been showing up at student health for treatment at record rates. Although little noticed last Fall, the outbreak has been more severe since the new semester began in mid-January.

Symptoms: Pale skin, blackened fingernails and ears, dark shadows across the eyes and face, non-responsive and lacking verbal skills or mental acuity. Strong coffee temporarily relieves these conditions allowing patients to be interviewed.

Medical Data: The medical community has speculated a viral origin for the apparent epidemic but has not isolated a causal agent. They have developed a blood test to identify the black blood expected for Zombie Epidemic patients. This method can predict if a person will soon become a Zombie.

Epidemiologic Study: It has been determined an outbreak study is needed to help determine the cause of the virus. The following information should be considered in designing an appropriate study:

• All students, faculty and staff at University are potentially impacted
• University Health Services is the primary health care center for the outbreak
• It is possible Zombie transformation is related to: eating at the HUB, studying in the Dupont-Ball Library stacks or contact with a Zombie.
• The outbreak can be traced back to the Fall Semester.
• There is a persistent rumor that students/staff/faculty who frequent trilogy Coffee NEVER become zombies!

1) To conduct a case-control study, you need to define the cases. Defining cases includes both a medical definition of “case” as well as an indication of where you would recruit study participants and how you confirm they are a case. Please describe these steps for a Zombie Case-Control study: