Description
A zombie refers to most humans that have succumbed to the t-Virus (either through contaminated water supply or infected bites and scratches from a virus carrier).
The researchers at the Umbrella Corporation called them "zombies" in reference to the Haitian Folklore zombies, which are said to be recently dead bodies reanimated by necromancers for use as slave labor.
Since some of the traits of zombies are the decomposed skin and the lack of pulse, they are often mistaken for reanimated corpses.