Bird Flu

Did anyone else watch the recent Oprah show about Bird Flu? And if so, were you as seriously freaked out as I was? No, really. I am usually able to watch things fairly objectively, and not get sucked in to things, but all I could think while I was watching the show and listening to the stats (360 million people could die, the healthiest of us are the main targets), was how ill prepared our family is for something like that. We don't even have a first aid kit (except for the one that comes in your car when you buy it). If you didn't see the show, there's a pretty good recap of what was said here, on survivetheflu.com. It's worth a read, and as you're my friends I want everyone I know to be prepared for this, as Dr. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, said, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

The basics are this, the best way of surviving the flu is to not go outside and be around other people, so to be able to sustain your family for at least 6 weeks (although some recommend 4-6 months) on food, water, medical, etc., etc. is key. The stat say that absenteeism rates of upwards of 75 per cent caused by illness and panic would cripple food distribution, utility access and virtually all other commerce. Basically Dr. Osterholm said using Katrina as a model, it would be way, way worse, as it would happen globally, not just in an isolated area. And if Iraq and Turkey are any indication, it's starting to mutate and it's outside of Asia now, meaning, really, it's only a matter of time.

I don't want to sound hyper-reactionary, and I'm not the kind of person that gets swept up in things, but reading the statistics, and listening to Dr. Osterholm, I want to at least be prepared. I want to at least have our family be sustained, were anything (not just this flu) to sweep across the world. Even if another huge earthquake hit, we would probably only be able to last a few days, as we have no emergency provisions, first aid kit, etc., etc. to sustain us. I'm posting all this so you'll at least start thinking about becoming prepared. If you have any questions, some good sites to read are the survivetheflu.com site I mentioned above, and a thoroughly comprehensive site called Flu Wiki. And if you have any thoughts about it, or if you're already prepared for natural or other disasters, I'd love to hear how you went about it, and any tips you may have.

Comments

[Amanda]

Yes, I saw that Oprah last week, too. Startling. Horrifying. There was something about the doctor's candor, his bluntness about the when, not if, that so shocked me. I've pretty much disregarded much of the media attention the bird flu has received. I couldn't disregard this report. One interesting thing he pointed out was about the food supply and how precarious it is. Refrigerated trucks were pulled out of normal distribution lines for Katrina use and it immediately put a wrench in the supply. It does make me ponder my current pantry level. It may be time to increase that miserly food budget of mine.

[Misty]

I think this is a good heads up to start getting food and water packed in case of an emergency. Where we live it could be an earthquake or something else. I think it's each person's responsibility to have supplies for thier family for times of need. I have heard about bird flu and to me the scariest thing is the mutation thing. The last big flu's that swept the globe were bird flus. Isn't that interesting. I think it's because our bodies don't know or have resistance to a flu that is foreign to our bodies. It's apparently wiping the birds out too, so it must be bad. Hasn't it so far only been bird to person transmission vs. person to person. How do they know it has mutated? I'm not sure how they could say it's not an if it's a when. That is hard to say I think, he doen't know the future!

[tami]

I'm actually calendaring a date during our next ICU so us girls can put our emergency kits together. Bring you calendar!

[Sam Courtney]

http://beprepared.com/category.asp_Q_c_E_40