The Pallid Plague monster ability Question

[The Tea Elf]

So I had a question about how the plague zombies worked. In particular the Death Burst(Ex) ability.

It states, "When a plague zombie dies, it explodes in a burst of decay. All creatures adjacent to the plague zombie are exposed to its plague as if struck by a slam attack and must make a Fortitude save or contract pale pox."

Alright, the part that trips me up is the "as if struck by a slam attack." Does that mean that they, on top of having to make a Fort save, also take the damage of the slam attack?

I think so, otherwise why specify it like that? Why not say, "exposed to its plague and must make a Fortitude save or contract pale pox." It also makes sense as it is an explosion of sorts. But what do you all think?

[The Tea Elf]

Bump

[Talon89]

i seem to remember the GM describing a rain fetid spore ridden grossness... ok minus the grossness. He did not have us take damage, but we were forced to save versus the plague, this is actually how most of the party was infected... which is kinda key in the scenario set up.

[Andreas Forster]

The disease's types are injury, ingested, or inhaled.
The slam attack delivers it as an injury disease. By adding "as if struck by a slam attack", it is made clear the Death Burst also delivers the disease as an injury disease.
This means that characters can't prevent the need to make a Fortitude save by holding their breath (because without the added text, the most logical type would be 'inhaled').
You definitely don't add slam damage to the Death Burst.