Something like a super Ebola could be the cause:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_virus_disease
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All patients show some extent of coagulopathy and impaired circulatory system symptomology.[14] Bleeding from mucous membranes and puncture sites is reported in 40–50% of cases,[15] while maculopapular rashes are evident in approximately 50% of cases.[14] Sources of bleeds include hematemesis, hemoptysis, melena, and aforementioned bleeding from mucous membranes (gastroinestinal tract, nose, vagina and gingiva). Diffuse bleeding, however, is rare, and is usually exclusive to the gastrointestinal tract
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All epidemics of Ebola have occurred in sub-optimal hospital conditions, where practices of basic hygiene and sanitation are often either luxuries or unknown to caretakers and where disposable needles and autoclaves are unavailable or too expensive. In modern hospitals with disposable needles and knowledge of basic hygiene and barrier nursing techniques, Ebola has never spread on a large scale. In isolated settings such as a quarantined hospital or a remote village, most victims are infected shortly after the first case of infection is present. The quick onset of symptoms from the time the disease becomes contagious in an individual makes it easy to identify sick individuals and limits an individual's ability to spread the disease by traveling. Because bodies of the deceased are still infectious, some doctors had to take measures to properly dispose of dead bodies in a safe manner despite local traditional burial rituals
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Which seems to goes back to the burning of the corpses.
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Ebola virus can be transmitted to dogs and pigs.[129] While dogs may be asymptomatic pigs tend to develop clinical disease.
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It's kind of already been debunked to be an actual real world strain of Ebola because of the exact symptons and time periods (I suppose without factoring in everyone's infected with the zombie thing) but I think it's probably close enough to the generic disease the writers have created. I highly doubt they'll actually name the exact strain or anything like that, we know the symptoms, we may find out the cause, but I doubt they'll start vaccinating people for a real world disease and rather just have some generic antibiotics that seem to work alright.