This won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who understands public health well enough to know the consequences of combining poor sleep patterns, sedentary lifestyles, obscure diets and close living quarters; but a massive infection recently took over the University of Iowa. Fortunately unlike any of the usual outbreaks associated with college campuses, this one seemed to be quite enjoyable, both to the infected and those trying to avoid it.

Symptoms included an unnatural desire to chase uninfected students, unexplained vulnerability to white, cotton projectiles and death (or recovery, depending on how you look at it) after 48 hours of starvation. Despite their abnormal symptoms, these students–known by the larger body as zombies–appeared uneventfully healthy. They were most easily recognized by the bandannas worn around their heads and necks. Survivors wore similar bandannas around their arms.

Apparently, this epidemic was planned several weeks before the initial outbreak last Monday. Participants in the “Humans Vs. Zombies” game signed up online and received registration codes. When they woke up last Monday, they all tied bandannas around their arm, armed themselves with a large stock of “sock grenades,” and proceeded to class with caution. If they spotted a zombie, humans could either run indoors or on a bus (safe zones) or attempt to hit the zombie with a sock (stunning the attacker for 15 minutes). If tagged by a zombie, the human had to give up his or her registration code for the zombie to use to “feed” online. The sacrificed human then joined the zombie crew, and the zombie was able to live for another 48 hours without feeding.

By the end of the week, almost all of the over 600 players were zombies. Virtually every student on campus recognized the game and offered praise to the few remaining humans. This is a great example of some of the unofficial campus activities that make college so much fun.