Several time in recent days I’ve read references to the Asian Avian Influenza (“A.A. Flu“) having a “less than 50% mortality rate.” Clinically, perhaps, but not in a real world pandemic! Why? The 50% figure is based on advanced medical treatment. Because A.A. flu is a respiratory disease, therapies that are currently being used to combat the small outbreaks in Asia this will not be available at home. (This includes inhalation therapy, anti-bacterial drugs like Ciprofloxacin (“Cipro”)–already in short supply–and ventilators.) Here is a data point for you: There 105,000 ventilators installed at U.S. hospitals, of which at least 70,000 are in use on any given day. In the event of a pandemic, the hospitals will be jammed. Now who, of the 20 million to 200 million patients, is going to get the use of those 35,000 ventilators? And who is going to get any of the few available doses of Cipro?
Think this through folks, and PREPARE! Since most flus are spread by person-to-person contact, be prepared to live in isolation for an extended period of time, preferably in a rural, agricultural, lightly populated region. That means a six month supply of storage food and all of the other requisite logistics. You need to also lay in a supply of antibiotics. Yes, I know that they are useless against the flu itself (which is viral), but they can be used to fight co-infections. Try to get some antibiotics like Cipro for your family, ASAP! (Ask your friendly local doctor.) Again, they are just for co-infections. (Pneumonia often accompanies influenza, and lung congestion can be a killer.)
In closing, if you doubt the seriousness of this emerging threat, then read the World Health Organization’s document that describes the propensity of influenza viruses toward antigenic shift: http://www.who.int/csr/don/2004_01_15/en/ You might also fined the following letters informative…