How to Survive Bird Flu Pandemic?, page 1

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Topic started on 14-12-2006 @ 11:12 AM by Nygdan

Lets pretend that this situation:
1,000s of Ducks dying off is confirmed to be the result of a bird flu. Lets further pretend that it makes the jump to being able to cause humans to transmit the disease (this has happened at least once or twice before, but was stopped). Lets further pretend that the government, being inept, corrupt, and just plain stupid, deals with it as well as they dealt with Katrina or the Iraq War.

So we've gota massive pandemic, at least in the United States, of bird flu, rapidly spreading from a centre in Idaho.

What happens? And how do you survive?

I say, that trains, planes, and highways get shutdown. After 911 we banned flights for a few days. With something like that, hopefully we'd deny movement through the air to all planes, private and public, and shut down all the train systems. Hopefully we'd also set up roadblocks along the major highways.

This should be done in addition to having a more fine and thorough shut down of even basic roads in and around 'the event' in Idaho.

I wouldn't be surprised if all we did was shut down air and train traffic witihin idaho.

So the disease is spreading, human to human, and things that we are used to, planes, trains, hospitals, grocery stores, are getting whacky.

The thing about this situation is, you can't stock up on tamiflu, because, its happening, now. If there's a pandemic, tamiflu is going to dissapear completely.

[size=3]So what would you do, now, with what you've got?[/size]

reply posted on 14-12-2006 @ 12:20 PM by jtma508

Shutting down transportation might slow the spread but keep one thing in mind: the disease is spread by birds. They don't need trains, buses or the airlines. If H5N1 gets into the US it's going to spread no matter what we do. About the only thing an individual can do is quarantine himself and/or his family to restrict contact with the outside worls and certainly with anything avian. Hopefully you're preapred and have food stored along with anyting lese you'll need for several weeks. Incoming mail will need to be sterilized as well.

And as for Tamiflu --- won't matter. The concensus now is that it's not effective against H5N1.

reply posted on 14-12-2006 @ 01:00 PM by Wildbob77

If the start of human to human transmission is determined early enough, then you could start by not allowing air traffic from the point of origion. That would slow the spread of the disease.

Unfortunately, I think, that by the time they determine that human to human transmission has occured, the cat may be out of the bag.

Depending upon how bad the bird flu is, you might need to go into survivalist mode.

Best of luck.

reply posted on 14-12-2006 @ 01:16 PM by soficrow

Good thread nygdan.

All the best research recommends "social distancing" before the disease starts spreading. This will NOT stop the spread, but will slow it enough to get better defenses in place.

What Can Be Done

The cities that fared best during the 1918 pandemic were the ones that "instituted "social distancing" at least two weeks before flu cases peaked in their communities." So says a new unpublished study being called "a Manhattan Project of history," where researchers reviewed health records, newspaper clippings and other documents from 45 cities about the 1918 pandemic.

"Social distancing" strategies "involve reducing contact with other people including closing schools and cancelling public gatherings; planning for liberal work leave policies and teleworking strategies; voluntary isolation of cases and voluntary quarantine of household contacts."

Study Shows What Helped During 1918 Flu

Government health officials tried to build their case for school closings and similar steps during a flu pandemic by showcasing new research Monday that suggests such measures seemed to work during the deadly Spanish flu of 1918. ...Researchers found that cities like St. Louis, which instituted "social distancing" at least two weeks before flu cases peaked in their communities, had flu-related death rates less than half that of Philadelphia, which didn't act until later.

The whirlwind historical research project - which started in August - involves a team of researchers from the University of Michigan and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who combed through health records, newspaper clippings and other documents from 45 cities. ..."This is a Manhattan Project of history," said Michigan's Dr. Howard Markel, one of the lead researchers, in a presentation at a pandemic flu planning meeting of health officials in Atlanta.

Another finding: The more social distancing measures were used and the longer they were in place, the less severe was the pandemic's effect on a particular city. Wearing masks in public, restricting door-to-door sales, canceling church and quarantining sick people were among the layers of measures that appeared beneficial. ...But the researchers acknowledged they've only just begun their analysis, and haven't teased out which measures were most effective. And they stopped short of saying those steps were the clear-cut reason some cities had lower death rates.

***

CDC Meeting Explores Community Strategies to Reduce Impact of Pandemic Influenza

The impact of pandemic influenza extends well beyond health and medical communities into many segments of society. Developing a pandemic influenza vaccine could take several months, and community prevention strategies are public health measures that don't involve vaccines or medications (also called non-pharmaceutical interventions) may serve as a first line of defense to help delay or reduce the spread of disease.

For pandemic influenza, examples include social distancing strategies that involve reducing contact with other people including closing schools and cancelling public gatherings; planning for liberal work leave policies and teleworking strategies; voluntary isolation of cases and voluntary quarantine of household contacts.

And yeah, survivalist mode is good. Be prepared to "weather the storm" at home, and live off your stockpiles. If you can get to the country, do it.

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