It is fitting that the Greeks came up with the word pandemic because the first recorded pandemic was in Athens about 430 BC and from what historians have gathered, they think that they were suffering from typhoid. By the time this hideous disease ran its course, nearly 25% of their society was dead. Fun topic huh.
I have wanted to address this topic for quite some time because it is so important and it is not a matter of if, but when we will suffer another pandemic. The difference between the 21rst century and 430 BC is that we are so much more mobile and we have a global society. Athens isn’t the only place that will be affected so to speak; it will not be contained in one small area of the world. When it does happen it will happen globally. Granted, it will be more devastating in some areas than others, but it will still affect everyone, and I’m just talking about the actual health issue. We’ll address the potential economic collapse later.
We have actually had 10 pandemics just in the last 300 years and three of those have been in the last 100 years. One that we are all familiar with has a child’s ditty that goes along with it, “Ring around the rosy, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down!” The first part of the song refers to the symptoms of those infected with the Bubonic plague. The second part talks about the flowers that people carried in their pockets because the stench of the dead and dying was so bad. The last part was about the people who died and were burned to ashes because there were so many dead and they didn’t know how else to dispose of all of the bodies and keep the disease from spreading even more.
The first time around, the Bubonic plague lasted 150 years and wiped out half of Europe during the 6th century. When it re-visited as the Black Death in the 1300’s, more than 25 million people died within a six-year period. There are some people who are still alive today that lived through, and remember, the devastation of the 1918 pandemic known as The Great Influenza; 50 million people died at that time. Between the two pandemics in 1957 and 1968, more than 100,000 people died just here in the United States.
A pandemic is coming; we don’t know where it will start or when, but the government has stated that it is inevitable. History will repeat itself. I don’t want to be a casualty and I’m sure that you don’t want to either – and the government certainly doesn’t want us to become another statistic. That is why the Federal government’s department of Health & Human Services is trying to educate the public on what we can do to protect ourselves and get prepared before it happens. For the next few articles I am going to pass on information about what they want us to know and what we must do now to be prepared. Oh, by the way, they want you to get your water stored (told you so – two gallons of water, per day, per person, for a two week period.)
I am getting my information, about the government’s concern for its citizens being prepared for the pandemic, from a webinar (a webinar is an interactive educational/informational type program hosted live or pre-recorded on the Internet) which is sponsored by the Health & Human Services department. This particular webinar, pandemicflu.gov/news/panflu_webinar7.html, and several like it, address different areas of concern about pandemics, and other potential disasters, is available for you to watch and learn about how to protect your family, to know what to expect, and to think about things that you might not have considered. The government knows that it doesn’t have the resources to “take care of us.” They need us to learn to take care of ourselves.
Secretary Leavitt made the observation that “…when a pandemic strikes that it will be like having 5,000 Katrina’s.” But during a pandemic, medical personnel and volunteer emergency trained first responders are going to stay at home. They won’t be out helping you in your distress. They will stay at home to protect their own families from getting sick. Something to think about.
We all saw the pictures and heard the stories of hurricane Katrina. Envision that scene being played out nationwide without all of the help coming to bail you out of your misery. Scary thought, but one that must be addressed and talked about. That is exactly what I am going to do – I’m going to talk about it, give you information to help you get prepared, and to empower yourself to take care of yourself and your family.
While doing research about pandemics, I ran across a very interesting article that you might be interested in reading. It talks about Avian Flu virus and how the government is keeping a close eye on it’s many mutations and how it is still migrating. Click here to read the entire article. Don’t get scared, just get prepared!
