In TFA, the quoted epidemiologist says not to call it zombie disease because that trivializes the issue. Perhaps zombie serves uses as cute/fictional and scary sounding.<p>While we're being precise, we might do well to not to assume that apparently poisoned animals actually fell ill to a contagious disease.<p>IMO, the Guardian piece trivializes a real potential environmental hazard issue, and chalks it up to an unproven contagious disease. There's been a lot of research along these lines, which I don't see mentioned at all. Maybe the epidemiologist and the Guardian are falling into the ol' zombie trap, themselves!