Tweet
Is 'anti-contagion prepping' covered somehow in prepping plans?
How do you all see this issue coming up post-SHTF and what plans do you have to deal with it?
Just looked up the difference between typhus & typhoid and seeing the info about them, seems they're likely to be issues post-SHTF.
But one is spread via bad water, and one by lice. How to deal with either or both in a post-apocalyptic world is the question.
Also cholera, yellow fever, malaria, regular old 'dysentery', or even bubonic plague could become widespread. (What am I leaving out?)
If there were even a minimal surviving version of local govt., public health would be a top priority (per One Second After, etc.) but what if your family or your small group is on its own? How then, to deal with such?
In a more remote location, this might not be as high of a priority, but with any contact with larger populations due to bugging-in, or as refugees moved through (or bug-out to) an area, or simply from being down-stream from others (remember that chemical spill in W.Va?), this might become more urgent.
Knowing symptoms and treatment takes one into the realm of heavy-duty medical knowledge/terminology, but dealing with these diseases' vectors seems do-able without as much expertise.
Re-Waterborne diseases
Ensuring clean water and proper latrines takes care many disease. Doing so is always a first concern in dealing with refugees and post-disaster scenarios.
The clean water issue seems pretty well covered in prepping sites/info.
The 'latrine' issue--sort of: how to do so on a short-term household-basis with toilet seats, 5-gal. buckets, and so on.
But longer-term, when the kitty litter is gone and/or you have a pit full of what-hit-the-fan, then what? If (unexpectedly) dealing with large numbers of people, that would happen quickly.
Out-houses, yeah, of course (they cover a multitude of sins, heh, heh--and Myaka, thanks in the past for a link on how-to of latrines) but how/where to safely locate one? A little food for thought on that from the typhoid article:
(here's a larger version of that image if the small is hard to see--this larger version on wikipedia.)
Or this:
Maybe info about providing proper latrines for large numbers of people comes from military service and living in/setting up a camp. If so, would the military's version carry over to how to live post-SHTF, given the resources available then?
Re Insect-borne diseases
But typhus is carried by lice. Other contagious diseases are also insect-vectored, though with different bugs. What info is there on de-lousing? Could be just a matter of doing your self or a small group, but could be a larger number of people. As with most things, what might work with a dozen or so people may not be the best answer for dealing with scores or hundreds, especially if there is a disease already among them and a quick response is necessary.
Or, about eradicating other such vectors--mosquitos, or rodents that carry the fleas that carry the germs, etc.--what traps, sprays, procedures etc. would be of use?
I realize this way of thinking goes against the isolation-aspect of most bug-out plans--the main idea of which is to get away from populated areas and their post-SHTF problems--but seems post-apocalyptic books/movies often--realistically?--depict that sort of isolation as not completely working as a means of avoiding diseases.
And most plans do call for stocking of anti-biotics, having multiple means of purifying water, and staying clear of people as much as possible, which all make sense in terms of avoiding contagions. But if anyone's doing more on this, I'd be glad to hear.
(interesting little bit of data as far as how much coverage there may be on this: there are no 'tags' for 'contagion', 'disease', 'public health', or 'hygiene'--not meaning that as a criticism or anything, but seems like maybe this is a topic that needs to be explored a bit further. Then again, maybe those are the wrong key words to look for, or maybe tags aren't the best measure of a topic's coverage.)
How do you all see this issue coming up post-SHTF and what plans do you have to deal with it?
Just looked up the difference between typhus & typhoid and seeing the info about them, seems they're likely to be issues post-SHTF.
But one is spread via bad water, and one by lice. How to deal with either or both in a post-apocalyptic world is the question.
Also cholera, yellow fever, malaria, regular old 'dysentery', or even bubonic plague could become widespread. (What am I leaving out?)
If there were even a minimal surviving version of local govt., public health would be a top priority (per One Second After, etc.) but what if your family or your small group is on its own? How then, to deal with such?
In a more remote location, this might not be as high of a priority, but with any contact with larger populations due to bugging-in, or as refugees moved through (or bug-out to) an area, or simply from being down-stream from others (remember that chemical spill in W.Va?), this might become more urgent.
Knowing symptoms and treatment takes one into the realm of heavy-duty medical knowledge/terminology, but dealing with these diseases' vectors seems do-able without as much expertise.
Re-Waterborne diseases
Ensuring clean water and proper latrines takes care many disease. Doing so is always a first concern in dealing with refugees and post-disaster scenarios.
The clean water issue seems pretty well covered in prepping sites/info.
The 'latrine' issue--sort of: how to do so on a short-term household-basis with toilet seats, 5-gal. buckets, and so on.
But longer-term, when the kitty litter is gone and/or you have a pit full of what-hit-the-fan, then what? If (unexpectedly) dealing with large numbers of people, that would happen quickly.
Out-houses, yeah, of course (they cover a multitude of sins, heh, heh--and Myaka, thanks in the past for a link on how-to of latrines) but how/where to safely locate one? A little food for thought on that from the typhoid article:
(here's a larger version of that image if the small is hard to see--this larger version on wikipedia.)
Or this:
Maybe info about providing proper latrines for large numbers of people comes from military service and living in/setting up a camp. If so, would the military's version carry over to how to live post-SHTF, given the resources available then?
Re Insect-borne diseases
But typhus is carried by lice. Other contagious diseases are also insect-vectored, though with different bugs. What info is there on de-lousing? Could be just a matter of doing your self or a small group, but could be a larger number of people. As with most things, what might work with a dozen or so people may not be the best answer for dealing with scores or hundreds, especially if there is a disease already among them and a quick response is necessary.
Or, about eradicating other such vectors--mosquitos, or rodents that carry the fleas that carry the germs, etc.--what traps, sprays, procedures etc. would be of use?
I realize this way of thinking goes against the isolation-aspect of most bug-out plans--the main idea of which is to get away from populated areas and their post-SHTF problems--but seems post-apocalyptic books/movies often--realistically?--depict that sort of isolation as not completely working as a means of avoiding diseases.
And most plans do call for stocking of anti-biotics, having multiple means of purifying water, and staying clear of people as much as possible, which all make sense in terms of avoiding contagions. But if anyone's doing more on this, I'd be glad to hear.
(interesting little bit of data as far as how much coverage there may be on this: there are no 'tags' for 'contagion', 'disease', 'public health', or 'hygiene'--not meaning that as a criticism or anything, but seems like maybe this is a topic that needs to be explored a bit further. Then again, maybe those are the wrong key words to look for, or maybe tags aren't the best measure of a topic's coverage.)
Comment