Anyone beating the crowd, and preparing for bird flu?

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by gakline

Heck, just riding Metra in winter is horrible. I don't know about you, but I swear every sick and sniffling person is intent on going to work and sitting right behind me. Atleast that's what it feels like.

Yup, twice this winter someone sat next to me when they should've been in the hospital, not heading to work. In both cases, I got up and stood in the vestibule for the rest of the ride.

[baselle]

I learned a bit about flu self-care, the un-tamiflu kind. Turns out that in 1918 pandemic, if you didn't die from respiratory arrest in a day or two, your big risk of dying came from dehydration.

A simple hydration recipe is: 1 qt (or liter) of clean water, 8 tsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, stir to dissolve. Drink, or feed to sick person. Don't overdo the salt - it should be no saltier than tears. If sick person can get down some orange juice or a bit of banana, the potassium in those will improve the sick person's chances.

The hospitalized sick and dying people are being reported. I wonder how many people there are that feel crappy, but stay home and later shake it off? Finding those means that the mortality rate wouldn't be 50%, but a lot lower.

Found a useful site, Flu Wiki: http://www.fluwikie.com/index.php?n=Main.HomePage

[sweeps]

Update: Many Health Care Workers Won't Show Up in Flu Pandemic

[eisor]

Baselle: It's always a good idea to have a few days worth of supplies.

One thing my family is big on is an emergency supply. Enough food, water, propane, etc. to sustain our family for at least a week. Just think about it, in Liousiana and Mississippi they were stranded for days. If you have a supply of food and water (wouldn't have neccessarily worked for New Orleans) you wouldn't be in as desperate need as others.

It's just a good idea.

[mverch]

I'm ending all my real friendships and just having internet friendships.

I'm also keeping my husband and daughter locked up.

*laughing*

- Melisa

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by mverch

I'm ending all my real friendships and just having internet friendships.

LOL. Let's just hope your computer doesn't come down with a virus too.

[JBinKC]

No I haven't bought my N100 surgical masks and suits you wear for asbestos removal quite yet but I am well aware of the potential problem if it were to mutate and become airborne and the high probability of being quarantineed for an extended period of time.

[debtfreeme]

I don't believe this when I read items like this. A survey of 308 people in a nation with, what, 5 million health care workers?

I am very familiar with pandemic planning and emergency preparedness (life and jobs) and this is ridiculous. Then the state person in me looks at it and says, how were the questions worded? Were there comments about the health care workers family being taken care of and having the prophylaxis along with the health care worker? Or was it just asked: what would be your response in a pandemic situation? Thing like this just kill me.

A little planning goes a long way. Have food and water for at least 3 days for each family member. Have canned (either from store or your own items) or frozen food that you can make meals from if your family was to get sick or to be able to prevent having to shop outside unless absolutely necessary. Plan for a large emergency and then you can plan for the smaller ones, like loosing your job. When I quit the job I hated in the fall of 04, I was able to live pretty much off my emergency stores until I found a job, the exception being fresh bread and milk each week. It lasted over a month that I had no money, nor was I willing to charge anything.

[veronak]

You know the bird flu has not even crossed my mind I think I am waiting also. There are so many things on my plate right now like hurricane season and believe me one needs to be prepared last year 7 days no power year before 11

[SuzeOFan]

Here's an interesting article about the Bird Flu and how to deal with it:

Bird Flu at Home: How to Prepare for the Possible Pandemic

http://www.foxnews.com/printer_frien...192342,00.html

[debtfreeme]

One thing to rememebr about 1918, we were in the middle of a war. We had almost no medical staff in the US at that time and they were pulling doctors out of "retirement" to work savig patients. there is a fascinating book about this that i cannot remember the name of...about pandemic, 18, and the one in the 60's. It is easy to read, not to hard vocabulary but fascinationg study of the pandemic.

[rob62521]

I know it's been awhile since the last post for this, but our newspaper had an article a couple of days ago saying that the feds are going to give the states help in preparing for the bird flu. I don't think we should panic, but being cautious and prepared would be wise.

As for the people who go in public sick, there's no way of stopping that, unfortunately! We have parents sending kids to school with a fever or had thrown up before school, most because they didn't want to deal with their kid. It's not because they were working and didn't have a babysitter, most of these folks don't work. They just want the schools (and society) to deal with it.

[jamreed02]

if you do a bit of research on previous flu epidemics, as well as research on the flu in general, you'll come to understand why people are worried about avian flu. I haven't got a stock pile of antiviral drugs, and I don't plan to, either. I'll leave them in the hands of the red cross when people start to get sick... which is much better than sitting in my medicine cabinet for the chance of me getting sick. hopefully, when the virus is capable of passing from human to human, they'll be able to contain it. But like all flu viruses, this one will probably be passed on before anyone even realizes that they're sick. The best ways to prepare seem to be having a small stockpile of food, a way to cook it without electricity, a supply of water that will last at least 3 days. And if the news mentions a case of human-to-human transferance, avoid public places that you don't absolutely need to be in. Also, wash your hands, take your vitamins, get some excersize and sunshine...

oh, and don't lick the chickens!

[jamreed02]

if anyone is still wondering what crazy bird would fly across the atlantic, I found a map of common bird flyways.

http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/subjec...rationmap.html

there are studies showing that the migratory birds are passing the flu from one spot on their migratory patterns to other spots farther along in their migration (china to siberia). what interests me most is the large area of Alaska where the east asia flyway and the mississippi flyway cross.