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If TSHTF really does happen, what preps do people have in case of a pandemic, epidemic or just bad water in your area?
Any medical person that wants to chime in please feel free.
I know some diseases will become a epidemic in the USA once TSHTF, especially if no medical services are available.
I know I do not want to see something like smallpox to hit the USA, but with no real medical services, it is very possible that it could happen in a SHTF situation.
You can buy fish antibiotics online (same stuff as humans use) and for less $$$ as well. Just be sure you learn which product to use for what, and how much of a dose you should take. These drugs can kill if not used correctly (and not because they use them for fish - they are the same).
Bad water can be treated with a good water filter. Even better if you pre-treat with paper filters (even coffee filters) to reduce turbidity first, then add some Pool Shock (granular chlorine, as liquid chlorine is only effective for a few months). That should get rid of most water nasties. Then just run it through your water filtration to remove whatever is left, including the chlorine.
I strongly advise keeping a case of ASAP Silver Solution on hand at all times. NO this stuff will NOT make you turn gray. It will, however, prevent most wounds from getting infected, improve gum disease and dental decay pain, relieve an upset stomach from eating "bad" food, and prevent a full-blown case of cold or flu if taken early on. Camping Survival has the best deal on it. (I have no stock in Camping Survival).
"The literature suggests that desert sage has qualities that are analgesic, antirheumatic, antiseptic, diaphoretic, digestive, disinfectant, emollient, febrifuge, poultice and sedative."
In the case of infectious disease, the best thing to do is be seperated from the infected. Some disease like TB for instance could be airborn, so you want to stay away from population centers where it could be passed. in other words, quarentine.
Same for Flu's and Cold's. If you aren't around them, you don't have to worry.
Part of the reason I am in such an isolated area.
Breaks, sprains, bruises, those can be handled with good first aid. Pulling teeth isn't hard, filling a cavity or treating an absess may be beyond what an average person could safely do.
Some minor surgeries as well such as removing large splinters or sewing up wounds, just about anyone with a strong stomach could handle.
Major surgeries, Well my wife is a nurse and was a Corpsman with the US Navy for a while, and with my training as a first responder, we may or may not be able to handle it.
Unless you have advanced medical training and the equipment, some things are just going to be beyond what normal people could handle.
Water can be purified in a number of ways including passing it through a filter of dirt, gravel, dried grass and charcoal if nothing else.
Boiling works, or distilling it is the best way to remove just about all impurities including mineral from your water.
Question of pure curiosity, not being a smarta-s. How does a medical epidemic spread? I ask because aside from asthma, which is mostly my allergies and weak lungs, I haven't really been subject to "catching" stuff except the common cold...never treat myself when I have it either and I never take medication or even tylenol, etc.
If I am relatively isolated from other people, what diseases or medical stuff can I catch or encounter?
Also, disregard dirty water from this scenario, but include wild animals that I may have to hunt, cook and eat.
Question of pure curiosity, not being a smarta-s. How does a medical epidemic spread? I ask because aside from asthma, which is mostly my allergies and weak lungs, I haven't really been subject to "catching" stuff except the common cold...never treat myself when I have it either and I never take medication or even tylenol, etc.
If I am relatively isolated from other people, what diseases or medical stuff can I catch or encounter?
Also, disregard dirty water from this scenario, but include wild animals that I may have to hunt, cook and eat.
Lots of diseases are airborn like TB. The Spanish Flu killed a lot of people in the 1900's for instance.
In the case of wild animals, some like rabbits can carry several diseases. Look at the liver and if it has white spots on it, discard the carcass.
Black bear carry trichinosis, so cook the meat well.
The biggest thing to be careful of is when handling game, ticks and mites can transfer from the game to you and can carry disease like bubonic plauge.
I use gloves when gutting and handling the game when fresh to try and prevent disease transmission.
When you take the animal, look at it to see if it is alert and healthy, does it limp or hang its head, is the tounge protruding before you kill it?
Is its coat shiney or rough? Does it show signs of loose stools?
If the animal appears sick, don't take it, let it go.
Predators like Bear or Mountain Lion or Raccoons or Possums can pick up disease from prey, so again, look at the condition of the animal when you take it.
If you find something dead without wounds or signs of what killed it, don't touch it as it may be diseased.
Most wild game is pretty safe as disease kills pretty quick when the animal is exposed usually, but there is always a chance of something in there so look at the meat when you cut it up. Look for color, any parasites, any strange liquids or smells.
Be aware and you can enjoy wild meat with no problems. Just pay attention and don't eat something that just doesn't look or smell right and you should be fine.
Small animals like mice, rats, prarie dogs can be pretty dangerous with disease so I would leave them alone unless there was no other choice.
If TSHTF really does happen, what preps do people have in case of a pandemic, epidemic or just bad water in your area?
Any medical person that wants to chime in please feel free.
I know some diseases will become a epidemic in the USA once TSHTF, especially if no medical services are available.
I know I do not want to see something like smallpox to hit the USA, but with no real medical services, it is very possible that it could happen in a SHTF situation.
Great question.
Most people are preparing for treatable diseases, the type they can have home grown or commercial remedies for. So long as they have a well stocked illness/injury medical kit, they are under the impression they can survive.
Truth of the matter is there are so many viruses, bacteria and parasites that have been kept in check by government intervention and prevention. We are just a "end-of-watch" away from their spread. The CDC list something like 40 items that are not prevalent in the USA but has had isolated outbreaks that were contained through normal medical treatment and control; remove that in a SHTF scenario and what can happen could harken back to the days of widespread outbreaks that only were overcome by the loss of host for the illness.
We have many detected nastiest everyday but a healthy society is self capable of fighting an outbreak without massive intervention. But that will changes as people die, sanitation breaks down, safety checking goes away, and all the everyday things we do that limits outbreaks. As society becomes "dirtier" and "unhealthy" and the environment becomes conducive to aiding an outbreak spread, it will spread and we will have little defense without government assistance.
Think of all the major disasters in recent decades, many not only had the normal infrastructure, humanitarian and injury problems, but diseases, viruses, bacterial, and other health issues spiked until control was established and modern medical treatments along with modern sanitary practices combated a serious outbreak.
We owe our heath t the health of society as a whole, tip that scale to less healthy and you tip to scale to becoming a victim. If you can maintain the isolation and that isolation is environmentally unfriendly to the nastiess, you increase your chances of maintaining current health status. So this is why people need to also consider the spread of diseases in their preparedness plans instead of planning only for "treatable" issues.
I brought this subject up because everything else under the sun is being talked about, but not this one. if TSHTF does happen, then people can look forward to having diseases happen in epidemic proportions.
I brought this subject up because everything else under the sun is being talked about, but not this one. if TSHTF does happen, then people can look forward to having diseases happen in epidemic proportions.
I agree, and especially in heavily populated areas you will find a resurgance of waterborne disease like Chollera or Dysentary, not to mention malaria from uncontrolled mosquitos.
even though I have heard that smallpox is considered to be wiped out, can anyone in the medical field say anything about a resurgence of this disease coming back in full force if tshtf happens.
even though I have heard that smallpox is considered to be wiped out, can anyone in the medical field say anything about a resurgence of this disease coming back in full force if tshtf happens.
It was eradicated in 1979. There was a scientist who died of small pox when another scientist was carelessly handling it in one of the labs that has samples. If I remember correctly, the scientist committed suicide over the incident.
I think everyone is fairly confident that unless it was compromised at one of the two labs that still has samples, it is, for all intents and purposes, eradicated.
On a side note, when my son was deployed, he was vaccinated with the small pox vaccine as they were worried that Hussein may be able to get it and weaponize it.
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