Unlike our own Department of Health who get into a state about passive smoking and swine flu, the US CDC is taking no chances in making sure that Americans are informed and prepared with their newly posted Zombie Apocalypse survival guide :

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

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So what do you need to do before zombies…or hurricanes or pandemics for example, actually happen? First of all, you should have an emergency kit in your house. This includes things like water, food, and other supplies to get you through the first couple of days before you can locate a zombie-free refugee camp (or in the event of a natural disaster, it will buy you some time until you are able to make your way to an evacuation shelter or utility lines are restored). Below are a few items you should include in your kit, for a full list visit the CDC Emergency page.

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If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine).

Apart from being damned amusing, the article is actually a very clever piece of work highlighting the basics needed for survival in a disaster situation.

Unfortunately for the CDC, the twitter and facebook links soon crashed the whole site but at least they found a way to get the message out to a huge audience with little or no cost involved and in a manner which most people will actually remember.

Having seen the dire campaigns here for Swine Flu for example, our own DoH has a hell of a lot to learn about engaging with the people it is trying to inform.