Survival Tactics During a Widespread Epidemic

An outbreak of disease will place your family at grave risk.  Unfortunately, if a long-term epidemic sweeps through the country, the health care system may not be available to help you.  A national economic collapse, failure of the power grid, or a manmade or natural disaster—any of these or other scenarios could disrupt health care services.  In that event, you and your loved ones will be on your own.  A population without access to medical care is ripe for contagion. You need to be prepared to prevent illness and to care for family members who get sick.

Let’s begin with a review of how epidemics get started.  Disease is transmitted to humans in three principal ways: 1) through the skin; 2) by swallowing while eating or drinking; or 3) by breathing in the pathogen.  For example, malaria is spread by the bite of the Anopheles mosquito through the skin.  Cholera is contracted by ingesting contaminated water.  Tuberculosis is transmitted when a healthy person breathes in minute particles in the air after an infected person coughs.

Occasionally, a disease is virulent enough to be spread by all three methods of transmission.  Anthrax is a good example of this.  Farm workers can catch anthrax on their skin merely by handling infected livestock.  A person who unknowingly eats meat from a contaminated animal will develop gastrointestinal anthrax.  The spores of anthrax remain active for years in the soil surrounding an infected carcass.  If a person inhales the spores, he will contract the most deadly form of anthrax.  The new horror is that weapons grade anthrax released in a crowded area could kill hundreds or thousands of victims.  Unless treatment begins immediately, the mortality rate for inhalation anthrax is almost 100%.

While anthrax cannot be passed from one person to the next, many deadly diseases are spread by human contact.  The sweat, tears, saliva, excrement and sometimes even the breath of an infected person are dangerous.  Without antibiotics and modern medicine, we are likely to see a host of killer illnesses begin to reappear.  Here are the crucial survival tactics for dealing with epidemic disease.

Prevention – Avoiding exposure is always better than treating an illness!

• If possible, stay home and avoid contact with all but your immediate family.
• In public, wear a mask or N95 respirator and discard it after use.
• Wash hands with soap and water frequently.
• Wear nitrile gloves when touching surfaces and items commonly used by others.
• Maintain a safe distance of six feet or more from other people.
• At work, clean everything often with disinfectant wipes.
• Boost your immune system with vitamins A, C, E, B6 and Zinc.

Treatment – Quarantine and good sanitation are the foundation.

• At the first sign of illness, go home and stay there.
• If you have electricity, start a HEPA filter to cleanse the air.
• Isolate the sick family member in a separate “sick room.”
• Set up a functional sick room—See our earlier post on this topic.
• Be properly masked, gloved and gowned when visiting the patient.
• Wash up thoroughly after exiting the sick room.
• Promptly dispose of human waste and contaminated trash.
• If the sewer system is inoperable, dig a 12” deep latrine to bury excrement.
• Once the patient recovers, keep him isolated in the sick room for an additional seven days before rejoining the family.

Your diligent attention to the survival tactics will give your family its best chance to remain well during an epidemic.  If family members become ill, a sanitary sick room will hasten their recovery.  Advance preparation will insure that you take control during an epidemic disaster.

By Mitchell