Pandemic Threats: Preparing for and Surviving the Worst Case Scenario

Pandemic Threats, Vector and Food-Borne Illness, and the Collapse of Antibiotics

(Complete guide to protecting yourself)

Vibrio cholerae

Last Update: October 3, 2011

From TheCityEdition.com

While the many pandemic and food safety alerts of recent years have so far produced mercifully few casualties, epidemiologists believe plenty more nail-biting scenarios are coming down the pike. Among those keeping them up at night:

The sudden unstoppable spread of an epidemic. Airline travel and global food distribution now allow an outbreak in one corner of the planet to sweep the entire civilized world within days. With so many victims to treat, the quick development and distribution of a vaccine may not be possible.

The collapse of antibiotics. The proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA, C.diff, and even new strains of tuberculosis is generating more and more fatalities from previous treatable illnesses.

A socio-economic backdrop that increasingly resembles the Middle Ages. Denser populations crowding into cities and higher poverty rates may be responsible for the resurgence of cholera and other public health nightmares.

A pestilence of biblical proportions. Climate instability, with its pattern of alternating drought and deluge, could soon spawn super swarms in bread-basket areas of the world. Hotter temperatures have allowed mosquitoes to migrate from the tropics into more temperate locales and higher altitudes. Cases of malaria and dengue fever are on the rise.

Worldwide export of a food-borne toxin, disease or bio-threat. Today, imports of grain, produce, fish and meat, vitamin supplements and other food products are so massive, it's impossible to screen more than a fraction of the cargo offloaded each day.

To date, the World Health Organization and U.S. Centers of Disease Control (in conjunction with other public health agencies) have closely monitored outbreaks. Epidemiologists have performed with commendable precision in their battles against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), West Nile Virus, H1N1, the Avian Flu and MRSA.

Unfortunately, continued funding for these government agencies is no longer a sure thing. The prospect a stock market collapse or state default (like the situation in Greece) may prove a showstopper as economic realities begin to eclipse public health priorities. The U.S. Congress has already taken steps to cut the budgets of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. Most recently, the House of Representatives voted to eliminate funding for the USDA's Microbiological Data Program, which tests imported produce for E-coli.

That's why it's important to track pandemic threats and take counter-measures of your own. Of the several basic steps to limit your exposure to contaminants, harmful bacteria and viruses, the first one is developing a sound understanding of what's going on. By purchasing or stockpiling essential safety equipment and supplies (including easy-to-obtain natural antibiotics), you'll increase the odds of surviving a fatal outbreak, epidemic or quarantine in the future.

This section of the Mega-Disaster Planner and 2012 Apocalypse Guide is divided into four sections:

Epidemics and Vaccines

Antibiotics - Losing Ground to MRSA and Other Superbugs

Vector-Borne Diseases

Foodborne Illness

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