Planning for Bird Flu/Swine Flu

[lupinfarm]

biosecurity. though i realize that because we open ourselves up to customers who walk past the coop for eggs, the least i can do is have a biosecurity rule for the coop. no one goes in or out except myself, my parents, and my brother. no one goes in the run but us. no one touches the chickens but us.

eventually we'll have a fence and gate and signs, but until then its a rare-ish disease in a foreign country.

 

[Cybercat]

I'm glad to see this thread back at the top again...

Here is a link that can help you get started on prepping for contagious illnesses...

Its the Get Pandemic Ready website...

http://66.236.6.202/

This link also takes you to the same website...

http://www.getpandemicready.org/


As far as basic supplies, I'd imagine that most folks are OK in case they have to stay at home for a while...but if you have illness in your home, you may want to beef up on some health type items. If we lose power and use of toilets, we need to have ways to take care of our wastes...think about the flu- diarrhea, vomiting, etc...where does that go if you can't use the normal facilities?

Another thing to think about is the following gist of a thread on a Pandemic forum..."....if we lose the grid (due to illness or people staying home), we lose the cities. If we lose the cities, we lose about 90% population in a few months." And that would be a disaster for the USA.

I am not trying to be an alarmist, but I do think that we preppers tend to focus much on the food and energy aspect and not so much on the medical.... I've been following a couple of bird flu sites for a while, (mostly out of concern for my poultry) and the medical folks on these sites are very concerned.

 

[Beekissed]

Pandemic~ def:
occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population - pandemic malaria

I don't give much credence to so-called pandemics. Have yet to see one. I feel they are just another scare tactic by the government to get people to sign up for~ and to get others to report people who do not comply with~ the FDA and USDA's golden little plan called NAIS.

Case in point: I met a man the other day who raises chicks and a few pullets for sale. A very small, backyard place. A gov't official stopped by his place the other day wanting to take blood samples from his flock and was quite insistent about doing so. The reason? Because the commercial chicken operation about 200 yards down the road was demanding that it happen. The man told me he watches the workers bring double handsful of birds out of those buildings, in multiple trips, each morning and throws them in the incinerator. The official wants to test HIS flock because of the fear that this backyard flock may have some kind of virus because they are not in a controlled environment and may have come in contact with wild birds. The commercial flock owner? This man's BIL!

Get enough people scared about these things and they start hollering for more control of our foods......especially the gardens and animals in our backyards. :/

 

[me&thegals]

I guess I can see it from both sides. In Mexico, you have over 1000 people sick and some dead from a pig-bird-human flu. If you go by history and statistics, we are due for a big doozy. I can see why the gov't wants to track avian health right now. Wouldn't we think they were a bunch of big dummies if 1000s of Americans died, or more, and they hadn't been doing anything to try to prevent it?

OTOH, I don't want my flock monitored, not at all.

 

[Carolyn]

My family lost relatives in the 1918 flu epidemic--I am not in a panic, but always prepared for everything and anything--one doesn't know what can come, I think we are in for a bad one also--jsut the nature of things---I feel that if you snooze, you lose. I keep track of the new flu, not to panic, but just to know what is going on. Knowledge is power. Carolyn

 

[Beekissed]

I agree! The knowledge that is passed on from the media is not worth considering, IMO. Its sensationalized and dramatized and fosters fear and panic.

There are outbreaks of this virus or that all over the world, at any given time, in any given country. We don't get to hear about those and maybe its because they are harder to track....who knows? I think they really lay it on thick for those closest to America because this is where their interests lie.....their business interests.

Each time we actually do get to hear of one, everyone gets in a tizzy over it and the government passes some new regulation to "crack down" on our food sources. They never pinpoint the likely culprits and this always seems a little fishy to me. A little too neatly packaged towards power and money.

The reason I don't feel the need to "get prepared" is that I've been preparing all my life in the best way possible.....

...the best defense against illness of any kind is a good offense. I work every day to build my and my children's immune systems. When all other systems fail, this is your last and only line of defense against microbial invaders. If you've forgotten this most important detail, all the other stop-gap interventions aren't worth much.

As for focusing on the medical aspect of it all....this IS the medical aspect. Your immune system. As a nurse, I can tell you that some vaccines are great, most are not. Some medicine is wonderful, most is not. They are adjunct therapy only....the first and best medical defense is a healthy immune system.

For you and your animals.

The very best one can do is to prepare your body for living and your soul for dying!

 

[k0xxx]

I know the media has a track record of sensationalizing things, but this latest Swine Flu strain could be something to watch.

A news story today tells of a man who passed away from it, who had only days earlier greeted President Obama during his trip to Mexico (hmmm, might be a good time for the Prez to address a joint session of Congress...). Oops sorry. That was tasteless, but I couldn't help it.

Anyway, I would hope that this wouldn't turn into something resembling the flu pandemic of the early 20th century, but I'm making plans just in case.

Beekissed, you are so right about the immune system. This is also one of the reasons that I am against irradiated food. At some point a lot of people will have no resistance to the common pathogens found in food.

 

[Beekissed]

Well looks like the government is...
http://www.truthnews.us/?p=2787

Morel, ever see that movie Wag the Dog? This kind of reminds me of that.....want the government to legislate something? Or get the people's mind off some goof that the government has made? Or even make a lot of money selling flu prep items, vaccines or, in this case, plastic coffin liners? Create a "disaster"......

 

[Mackay]

Fortunately this seems to be a rather mild flu at this point. In Mexico the death rate is about 7% which is high. Ever been to Mexico? The general health of the people is not near as good as ours. Who can say what that statistic really reflects.

They said in the news that the flu is capable of mutating at any time to a more benign or a more virulent form.

 

[patandchickens]

My understanding is that this strain is no more dangerous than your typical run of the mill winter flu strains. Some people die of it, of course, but the vast majority do not. Which is pretty different from the sort of thing people worry about, or post-WWI Spanish Flu pandemic.

The media's just bored, and interests the general public mainly because a lot of people are incredibly gullible and looking for things to fasten their general anxiety onto. IMHO

Pat