Man in critical condition likely has bubonic plague

Originally posted by Azdraik
reply to post by yourmaker

 

You could say I have had that discussion with people. How effective would it be? I think it would have a high rate of success.

people without knowledge about it would panic like crazy, probably outnumbering the people who do know,
they'd more than likely do something dumb spreading the infection,
if it hit during the SHTF you'd have humans fanning out in every direction, finding any help,
and thus any new host, or resistor. win win for whomever released it strategically, but that's a messy way.
I think the plague would only be one step in a long process of biological warfare procedure.
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Well I had no idea that it was still around, so color me surprised.

The "antibiotics first, tests second" idea reminds me of what they did when I was bit by a dog. Since there was no way to guarantee that the dog wasn't infected with rabies when I went to the hospital, they immediately started the rabies vaccine. Since its a series of vaccines (at least here in the US, I won't assume the same for the rest of the world, even though it probably is incredibly similar), they could just stop the doses later once tests confirmed the dog was rabies-free. Sadly, they never found the dog (sad for him, as he had been hit by a car and ran off after he bit me), and I ended up developing a nasty allergy to the drug.

That's just what immediately popped into my head. I hope the guy will be ok.

10 - 20 people in the USA contract the plague every year. Generally though one of the biggest culprits for spreading the plague in the USA apart from the usual rodents are squirrels.
There is a vaccine, but it takes about three weeks to become effective so it's not much use in an epidemic.

Oddly enough back in the old Dark ages a suggested cure for it was to ingest the poison of someone else's bubo's, wonder if that was the first wobbly step towards this vaccine.