pandemic

CDC Says New Swine Flu Strain in U.S.

A new Swine Flu strain is spreading from Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia as 12 people have been diagnosed with H3N2v, which has shown some potential for human-to-human transmission.

From the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, the sample size of H3N2 infections is too small to know whether it will pose a threat to the population at large.

The new strain of swine flu is NOT covered by this season’s vaccine.

source: usnews.com

There is no information yet regarding transmission or mortality rate. Just thought you would like to know…

In today’s world of rapid travel and high population centers, transmissible diseases can spread very rapidly. So, it is best to be prepared ahead of time for such things.

How can you prepare for any pandemic, be it mild or severe?

If you get clobbered with the virus, you will most likely be on your back and unable to go to the store to purchase anything at all. So, be sure that you have enough ‘easy’ food to make (although people sick with a virus will often not desire to eat). Soup’s are good in that they will help replenish dehydration.

Re-hydration (electrolyte replacement) drinks like Gatorade and other sports drinks are a good prep item.

Medicines and fever reducers will help alleviate some pain.

The point is, think about these things now, before you may need them. If by some chance this new strain goes pandemic, you will be glad that you prepared. In the event that the pandemic comes with a high mortality rate, then a whole new level of preparing and planning is required – the ability to be mostly self sustained for a period of time until the pandemic sweeps over – which could be 90 days, or even longer.

NIOSH-approved Type N95 Flu Masks

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H5N1 Avian Flu And You

From the Centers for Disease Control, Like all influenza A viruses, HPAI H5N1 viruses continue to evolve and human infections with H5N1 virus, resulting from direct or close contact with infected sick or dead poultry, are expected to continue to occur.

The avian influenza subtype H5N1 viruses currently circulating in poultry in parts of Asia and northeast Africa, have caused human disease and deaths since 1997.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus – referred to as HPAI H5N1 and sometimes shortened to H5N1 – is a virus that occurs mainly in birds, is highly contagious among birds, and can be deadly to them, especially domestic poultry. Though relatively rare, sporadic human infections with this virus have occurred and caused serious illness and death.

When humans develop illness from H5N1 virus infection, severe respiratory illness (e.g. pneumonia and respiratory failure) and death may occur. Nearly 600 human H5N1 cases have been reported in 15 countries to the World Health Organization since November 2003, resulting in approximately 60% mortality.

How does the Avian Bird Flu spread?

In the Asia-Pacific region waterbirds generally migrate in a north-south orientation. For the long-distance migrants, especially shorebirds, three flyways are recognized:

Central Asian-Indian Flyway
East Asian-Australasian Flyway
West Pacific Flyway

The largest outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in wild birds occurred at Qinghai Lake, China in 2005, followed by an outbreak at Erkhel Lake, Mongolia which suggests a possible virus spread via a migratory linkage between these regions.

As humans come in contact with infected birds, the virus ‘may’ jump to the human. Historically this has been relatively rare, but viruses are constantly mutating and adapting, and ‘could’ one day make a serious jump to the human population. If it does, it will kill 60% of us, or those who contract it.

How will the human strain of H5N1 spread?

It will begin in Asia, where it currently is predominant, and will rapidly spread via the airlines. It will likely start at Shanghai International and Hong Kong International, while working its way across the globe via the major international airports, the busiest of which are listed here:

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport
Hong Kong International Airport
London Heathrow Airport
Frankfurt International Airport
Chicago O’Hare International Airport
Tokyo International Airport
Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport

From there, it will spread locally, within regions, similar to how the ordinary flu spreads. The shocking fact will be the speed at which it happens, and how quickly it will destabilize the lives of nearly everyone – not to mention the horrible economic impact it will have as people remain in their homes refusing to risk going to ‘work’ and contracting the deadly killer.

The question is, are you prepared for such an event? Do you have what it takes to mostly remain at home and sustain yourself for 90 days, or longer?

Perhaps now is a good time to think about that, BEFORE such an event were to occur. Those who are not prepared (adequate food storage, hygiene supplies, and money-savings to pay the bills while out of work) will be at tremendous risk while out in public, all the while the store shelves are being emptied by panicked mobs of the majority population.

Note that as of this post, there is no new threat from this virus than there already is. But things ‘could’ change.

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FDA Fast-Track’s Half-Billion-Dollar Smallpox Vaccine

(image: SIGA)

A ‘Siga Technology‘ drug, named ST-246, which reportedly works by blocking the ability of the smallpox viruses to spread to other cells, has been granted “fast-track” status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

1.7 million doses, at the cost of $255 per dose, will add to the U.S. Government’s $1 Billion stash of smallpox vaccine.

Smallpox reportedly is no longer found in the natural environment, but The U.S. government is claiming the need to stockpile the drug in order to strengthen U.S. preparedness should the virus be used as a biological weapon in a terrorist attack.

USA TODAY reports,

Though natural transmission has ceased, the virus lives in freezers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and possibly in Russia, where Soviet scientists are believed to have created tons of weaponized smallpox. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the rise of global terrorism led the USA a decade ago to begin stockpiling vaccine.

For thousands of years, smallpox was one of the world’s most prolific killers. In the last century of its existence, smallpox is estimated to have killed at least half a billion people. All the wars on the planet during that time killed perhaps 150 million.

Mercola.com, a natural health website, asks the question “Why is the U.S. Doubling Its Protection Against this Non-existent Health Enemy?”

Unfortunately, there are serious, and sometimes fatal consequences of bringing drugs to market without adequate safety testing — and it is unclear why there is an urgent need for this drug that would warrant “fast-track” approval.

What’s more, Siga’s ST-246 only has a “guaranteed effective” shelf life of 38 months, which means if it’s not used in just over three years, it will be worthless.

Given the current U.S. deficit, you can’t help but wonder why the government just spent half a billion dollars on this. Do they know something that we don’t know? Or is this more political favors handed out to big-pharma at the expense of the taxpayer once again… ?

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Laboratory Bird Flu Strain Could Kill Millions

European scientists have developed a stunningly deadly strain of the bird flu virus, H5N1, a virus so dangerous that it has killed 60 percent of those it has infected… but the thing is, they want to publish the details of how they did it.

The research was undertaken in a university laboratory, instead of at a military facility, and scientists are in little doubt that the newly created strain of H5N1 – resulting from just five mutations in two key genes – has the potential to cause a devastating human pandemic that could kill tens of millions of people.

From The Independent,

“The fear is that if you create something this deadly and it goes into a global pandemic, the mortality and cost to the world could be massive,” a senior scientific adviser to the US Government told The Independent, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The worst-case scenario here is worse than anything you can imagine.”

Critics say the scientists have endangered the world by creating a highly dangerous form of flu which could escape from the laboratory – as well as opening a Pandora’s box for fanatical terrorists wishing to make a bio-weapon.

A senior source close to the Biosecurity board, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Independent that the National Institutes of Health, which funded the work, is about to make a decision on how much of the scientific paper on the H5N1 super strain should be published, and how much held back.

It may be though, that Pandora’s box has already been cracked open, and who’s to say that the university research has not already been copied and in the hands of many others there or elsewhere.

A virus this deadly cannot even be comprehended by most people, especially while trying to imagine the speed of which it could spread around the world, and the utter devastation it could wreak upon our way of life and world economies.

The best chance to survive such a killer virus would be to hunker down in your home and avoid contact with others. The only way this could be achieved would be with an adequate quantity of food and supplies. This sounds like yet another reason to shore up your preparedness supplies!

Using supercomputers to respond to a potential American health emergency, scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle have developed a simulation model that makes stark predictions about the possible future course of an avian influenza pandemic.

Based on today’s environment of world-wide connectivity, beginning with 10 infected people arriving in Los Angeles, the simulation predicts that the pandemic will spread quickly throughout the continental United States, peaking about 90 days after the initial introduction.

Simulation of a pandemic flu outbreak (4mb Quicktime)

To be fair to the flip-side of this fearful report, the research was undertaken in an attempt to create a strain which could be applied to a vaccine. Unfortunately it opens the door for deadly abuse. Be prepared.

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Contagion, The Pandemic May Soon Be Upon Us

Disease transmission by direct or indirect contact. Contagion.

The Warner Bros. movie opening Sept. 9 looks to be an interesting one. This type of thing, an invisible organism, virus, bacteria, a pandemic, so easily spread, is truly something to be fearful of. It has happened before, and is most definitely going to happen again, given our modern world of global distribution, travel, and a largely uneducated public as to the dangers of a spreading deadly virus and the ramifications of an ensuing global pandemic.

Preparing for such a disaster is a situation where your mission will be to minimize or eliminate going out in public near other people, meaning, you’ll need an abundance of supplies to make it through. At least until it’s over…

With the flu season approaching, and as most living in the northern hemisphere will be beginning to hunker down for the winter in a few months, a time when viruses flourish among cooped up humans, a timely cinematic preview is hitting the silver screens in a theatre near you. No clue if it will be a good one, or not, but the trailer looks intriguing.

Not that Warner Brothers doesn’t have enough money already, and not that I’m getting a cent to point out this movie (although I used to work in this industry), but, this movie might actually be worth the price of admission.

Stay tuned for related posts (pandemic) as the season comes upon us…

Speaking of outbreaks, check out this map, Health Map.

Update, Having received communications from TakePart.com, who have built a ‘go-to’ hub with the film’s co-producer, Participant Media, I had a look at it – and it appears interesting and helpful regarding questions that some may have about the subject. http://www.takepart.com/Contagion

Maybe they’ll send me a nice framed movie poster for posting this on our site

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check out our current homepage articles…