Category: First Aid/Medical

Anthrax is a good, scary topic that deserves a brief review.  There are three ways you can get anthrax:  cutaneous, inhalation, and alimentary.  Cutaneous anthrax is by far the most common type, often associated with farming and ranching.  The spores get into the skin through cuts or scrapes and then multiply locally.  The disease begins with a very small pimple that quickly enlarges and often blisters.  It the erodes and leaves and painless necrotic ulcer with a black covering.  The surrounding tissue swells up due to the toxin released by the bacteria and lymph node swelling and pain can occur. …

Jim: The type of flexible bandages [that were recently mentioned in a follow-up letter to “An Early Baby Boomer’s Bug Out Bag”] can be ordered through Schneider’s Tack Company for about $.99 apiece, in boxes of 18.  I use these all the time and they are great for all sorts of emergency fixes as well as wound care.  The rolls available at the drug stores can run $3.00 or more. Just order Vet Flex bandages, item # 30955, for a case.  SurvivalBlog is the best web site ever. – Kate in Colorado

In my head it sounds like the start to a Schoolhouse Rock song….”innnn flu enza!  It’s contagious, it’s outrageous…influenza a virus that …”  Anyway, enough reminiscing about my childhood and on to the topic.  First things first:  “flu” is one of the most overused and improperly used terms in all of medicine–arguable the king of misused medical words.  Influenza is a respiratory virus.  It is not what most people call “flu” or “stomach flu”.  It is not a little cold that you have that people call into work for because they just feel sniffly.  Influenza is an enveloped RNA virus classified …

Dear Jim- I read with high interest the article about Tetanus from Dr. Bob. I found his information to be very important and helpful. I have just one point to include in the care of the neonate upon delivery and that is the essential practice of cutting the umbilical cord with a tool that is as clean as possible; sterile, if at all possible.  The tool doesn’t have to be a surgical instrument per se, just a clean, clean, clean piece of equipment be it a pair of scissors or a razor blade, etc. We buried many a newborn child …

Nearly everyone has heard of the famous “lockjaw”, but not everyone knows that the cause is tetanus infection.  Even fewer people have actually seen a case of tetanus, even in the medical circles it is a rare event in the U.S.  There are only 233 cases reported from 2001 to 2008–or 1/10,000,000.  Deaths are even more rare here in the States, and of those 233, 31 were fatalities.  Most deaths were people over 65, presumed to be less than optimally immunized.   There has only been one reported infant case in the U.S. in that time period, and that was …

There are some things in life that you just can’t go cheap on, and there are others that you can. This is an area that is mixed. As many other posts and reviews will tell you, a good survival knife is an invaluable tool that you absolutely cannot go cheap on. Going to Wal-Mart and buying the “Made in China” cheapo knife is going to potentially hurt you WTSHTF. Don’t do that, please don’t. But, with medical equipment, price does not equal performance. Most medical equipment is dirt cheap because it is nearly all disposable these days. That’s okay, medical …

The subject of what not to treat comes up so often in medicine that books have literally been written about the subject both for medical and non-medical folks. I decided to break it down head to toe and try to approach it with a common sense approach. Headaches do not need antibiotics. If an infection is due to bacteria, if it causes headache alone…that would be really unusual and probably cause the person’s death. Some bacterial meningitis infections will benefit from antibiotics, but figuring this out in time and having the right antibiotics is just not realistic. Now, headaches can be caused …

The following is the “Simple Solution” –  Home made Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) Recipe Preparing 1 (one) Liter solution using Salt, Sugar and Water at home. Mix an oral rehydration solution using the following recipe. Ingredients: Six (6) level teaspoons of Sugar Half (1/2) level teaspoon of Salt One Liter of clean drinking or boiled water and then cooled – 5 cupfuls (each cup is about 200 ml.) Preparation Method: Stir the mixture until the salt and sugar dissolve. Oral rehydration will make the difference between life and death with many serious diarrheal illnesses.  Please make sure you have this formula somewhere …

Two Letters Re: The Rude Awakening of a Spider Bite Dear Mr Rawles: Fitzy describes a classic presentation for a staphylococcal furuncle, which in this day and age is often caused by cMRSA (community acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus) colonizing a patient’s skin.  These typically start as small “pimples” or “bites” on the skin surface, usually in areas of warmth and dampness, but any area of the body can be affected.  Most cases start as infected hair follicles or in areas of micro-abrasion or injury, not due to bites. It sounds like his doctor started him on doxycycline when bactrim …