I promise I will fit all of this into this blog, as is my writing style, my introduction to an article seems to have nothing to do with the substance of what I am trying to convey. However, if you have read my blogs before, I do think that people catch on, and ask during my intro, "I wonder where he is going with this."
My wife is a student of the internet, so much so I began calling her "Kate Lebeau, voodoo queen of the internet." I get sick about once a week, I have several ailments but the one that gets me most weeks is my Crohn's disease.
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| Marie Leveau, Not Kate Lebeau, but hey you know what I mean. |
It feels like the flu without the fever or headaches. Kate Lebeau, gets all kinds of cures from the internet, she means well and I reluctantly go along most of the time. I could not handle the vinegar, water, honey, cinnamon, and lemon juice warm drink in the morning, so she agreed to a pint of water when I wake up. Well, yesterday she cut an onion in half and set if next to me, all day, then she moved it to my nightstand next to where I sleep, 1-1/2 feet away. She had gone to bed earlier than I did and was asleep when I went to bed, I didn't know the onion was there. I kept smelling something that was just wrong, I could not put my finger on it but it smelled like I was sleeping in a garbage truck. Living on the river a person grows accustomed to odd smells coming from the water so I naturally thought it was something out there. whew! Those smells normally dissipate after a few hours, or in extreme cases days, I was hoping for the former. I could not sleep, at about 1 am I turned the light on to see if the dog dragged something in, that's when I saw it, a big fat onion cut in half in a bowl. I moved it as far away as I could when I heard "what are you doing?" I told her I found an onion next to my bed, her reply "oh yeh, I put it there to suck the poison out of your system." Oh yeh, I thought, then asked "what poison?" She said, "well, you've been sick today and this will cure you." "It made me want an Italian sub sandwich," I told her. "Well," she said, "it worked", remember this was 1 am in the morning that this was going on, it happens all the time with us. We laughed all night, in fact, we are still laughing about it, unlike the coffee incident that almost killed me, another urban renewal project of hers. I am renewable in her book, and a sacrificial lamb for her "holistic" medicine she harvests off of the world wide web. Holistic medicine, does it work? I'm sure some of it does, did the onion? I really don't know but I do admire her desire to help me, but often it feels like I am an experiment.
I am an advocate of preparing for expected/unexpected natural and man-made catastrophic events. I hate using the words "disaster", "Emergency Evacuation", and most words suggesting being prepared for 72-hours, in a headline it turns people off. I have however been aware for years of what is, in my opinion, the Number One biggest naturally occurring threat to our entire world, Pandemic. We may only have Holistic medicine to combat it. I mentioned it in my last blog, with the intent to continue the discussion in this blog, it is an extremely likely event, why? I've listed some indicators:
1) There is a movement declaring vaccinations dangerous to children, meaning they are better off with not being vaccinated.
2) The population of the world has exploded, more people, more infected. 66% of the population of the world will live in Cities by the year 2050, placing a higher demand on clean water and sanitary facilities. Meg-Cities have increased, Cities with more than 10 million inhabitants increases from 10 in 1990, to 28 in 2014.
3) With our population increases the demand for more land to build more housing is created, growing into formally uninhabited areas introduces humans to infections we have no immunity to. Rodents infected with Lassa Fever, for example, spread the disease in their feces deposited on forest floors, until they move into a house, then it's deposited on the kitchen floor. Once it is transmitted to a human, it is possible but more unlikely to be passed from one to another. In West Africa, higher rates of infection have been recorded since 2016.
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| Not that kind of mouse, good grief Jacques. |
4) Many areas of the world are experiencing rising water levels resulting in many not having sanitary or fresh water. Between 2030 and 2050 it is expected 250,000 lives will be lost due to water-borne diseases. Cholera, Malaria, and the Yellow Fever as being experienced in Angola recently. People from China are employed in Angola, if they contract Yellow Fever and return home, it may be spread by mosquitos', luckily they returned during the winter.
5) We are on the move traveling and we are not prepared for a pandemic on a national or worldwide scale. 1.2 Billion people traveled during the year 2015, it increased 50 million more than 2014, the sixth consecutive year of growth over the normal average. With more people traveling, the chances of more diseases coming along for the ride also increases. The incubation period of a disease is much longer than the time it takes to travel around the world, leaving the inflicted wondering how they got infected. Dr. Liu Jianlun contracted an airborne virus while on a vacation to China to visit friends and family. He was hospitalized, then died, but not before infecting people at the hotel, as well as members of his family. One of his relatives met the same fate, with little knowledge of how it was contracted. Within four months, 4,000 cases of SARS, resulting in 550 deaths were traced to the Doctors stay in Hong Kong. In 30 other countries, 8,000 more people were infected. Malaria from Mosquitos, Monkey Pox from imported Guinea Pigs infected Prairie Dogs then Humans in the United States.
6) Civil unrest and war, during which our health system will be incapable of handling, especially if the country is on the brink of social breakdown from a Civil unrest. The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia nearly brought those countries to total collapse. War depletes the treasuries of the Countries involved, placing health care on a back burner, leaving the population to an uncontrollable outbreak. If an infection remains in the local area, it will collapse, it is contained in a self-inflicted quarantined area.
7) Civil unrest results in a lack of qualified medical personnel, where the health care system is already weak, there are normally fewer doctors, to begin with, many leave under the prospect of war. It is not possible to "order" Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacy personnel to stay.
8) Better communications, instantaneous information can cause people to panic, some infected people flee to uninfected areas, spreading the disease. Factual, fast flowing information is required to keep the population from panicking, and rapid response by organizations such as WHO, (World Health Organization). Unfortunately in this day and age information travels so rapidly the affected population many times reacts faster than the emergency organizations can. Controlling "social media" is next to impossible on a global or national scale, inaccurate information is as well.
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| Yes, this is the get-up the doctors wore to treat Bubonic Plaque Patients, was it "Holistic" medicine? |
The 1918 Influenza Pandemic was the cause death for between 20 million and 40 million people worldwide, the most deadly epidemic in recorded history. 670,000 United States citizens lost their lives, mostly in the age range of 20-40 years of age. First discovered in Europe, the U.S., and parts of Asia prior to spreading worldwide. A national quarantine was established, with makeshift morgues set up before the virus finished its course. Due to the pandemic, the average life expectancy of an American citizen lowered by 12 years, think of that huge impact it had. One odd fact about this flu is that it struck down an age group that usually fares well with the flu, but not this time. The epidemic also killed more U.S. soldiers during the 1st world war than were lost in combat, 40% of the Navy was affected and 36% of the Army, the movement of troops on the ships helped to spread the disease. There were very few areas of the world that were not impacted by the spread of the deadly virus. In fact, in the way it started some people in the scientific community hypothesize it may have arrived here on a meteorite, it started in too many places at one time for it to be a normal virus infection. Most of the victims died from bacterial pneumonia, undiagnosed at the time. (Link to more 1918 influenza information)
So there it is my case laid out historically and scientifically which brings me to my point, The biggest threat we have so far as a Catastrophic worldwide event is a Pandemic. I remember thinking during the Ebola epidemic in Africa several years ago, that if it became "airborne" the world would be in trouble, it did not go airborne, but the world is still in trouble. For one, especially in the United States, we do not take health care seriously enough to make sure all citizens have it, all resulting from politics which I refuse to comment on here. Even at that, medical care is the reaction, it is not pro-active, after all, we don't know who, what, when, or where it will strike next, which brings up my final point.
The only way to combat a World Wide Pandemic is being isolated from society, quarantined, I was when I was a child of 9 or 10. I had contracted "Scarlet Fever", which may have been a precursor to the health I am enjoying now, (tongue firmly planted in my cheek.) I was isolated for an entire month, there was at that time no known cure for that disease, I was young and healthy and I'm here to say "I made it." But what if we experience a much more widespread event? What if we all had to be quarantined, all public spaces shut down, all people restricted from travel or mingling? How long would we all survive in our homes with our 72-hour kits, I would say if that was all the supplies we had, we would live about a month. 33% of the population is equipped to survive for 3 days or more, some do have plans and supplies for years. As I mention often, long-term survival is a lifestyle when the goal is to head for a bunker or other protected hidden area. It's another matter to us Rural and Urban dwellers, we must prepare to stay home until the "All Clear" is sounded. Travel to the grocery store may be out of bounds for us, which will mean an almost immediate depletion of food, water, and other needed supplies. It is my estimate we will each need a food supply of at least 6 months to ride out an epidemic the size of the Bubonic Plague of the middle ages, or the 1918 Influenza epidemic.
A Pandemic would be devastating enough, but the aftermath while people are quarantined with limited supplies, yes the utilities may still be on but what if the disease is being spread through our water systems? What if our close proximity to livestock initially started it and it spread like wildfire, causing the destruction of our meat and poultry industries? The point is we don't have any idea where an event such as this could originate, what if it is caused by an ancient virus that has been locked up in the Polar Ice Caps for millions of years and is unleashed upon the world and just keeps coming as the ice melts, with no end in sight?
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| What lies beneath the ice? |
I keep writing in my blogs I am not in the business of dealing in fear, but I have to be real here, I see a Pandemic as the most likely way the Preppers, and the people getting ready for the end of times are correct. Not civil unrest, not Hurricanes, Tornados, or Earthquakes, but Pandemics to me are our greatest threat. We really do need to be prepared for long-term quarantines, really quickly.
Thanks for reading and sharing my blog, tell me what you think, am I way off base here? I am not afraid of many things in this life, I've been through a lot, but this is frightening, I have been thinking about this for many years. Please take some time and give Pandemics some thought.
jacquesandkate emergencykitsplus.com
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