Tag: survival

We are now into our “normal” flu season and along with the drum banging on the Chinese corona virus many of the “health professionals” are suggesting that everybody over the age of six years should receive this year’s flu vaccine.

Many will take this advice and then come down with some kind of illness. The reasoning behind this is simple. The vaccine stimulates your body’s immune response which temporarily actually reduces your system’s ability to fight off other viral agents, (technically, it is called a cytokine storm).

Understand that I am not a medical professional and the following is not in any way to be construed as medical advice.

For many years our forebears practiced “folk medicine” based on plants and herbs. My maternal grandmother was one such person. One of her “home remedies” was based on the berries of the elderberry shrub which she would harvest in the early autumn and dry for the purpose of making an elixir to ward off the influenza.

Elderberry tincture has long been known as the ‘poor man’s medicine chest’ for its usefulness, but especially its efficacy in treating cold and flu symptoms. Long used throughout Europe and the Americas, elderberry has a long and respected history as an herbal remedy. Both Pliny the Elder and Hippocrates mentioned and recommended elderberry as a medicinal herb in their writings.

Elderberry Vodka Tincture

Dried elderberries enough to fill quart-sized jar 1/3 full or fresh berries to fill jar -100 proof vodka, (DO NOT use a lower proof or other liquor. You will NOT get the results you are looking for.)

Directions: Fill quart-sized jar 1/3 full with dried elderberries (or completely full for fresh). ). Fill jar with 100 proof vodka. Place the lid on the jar, label with date, and keep in a cool, dark place. Shake the jar at least twice a day for 10-12 days, (leaving it longer does NOT make it stronger). Strain the mixture using a cheesecloth. Be sure to squeeze all of the liquid out of the berries. Store in an airtight container on the pantry shelf for up to 2 years.

Use: Take within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms. For adults and older children: Administer 1-2 tablespoons daily for prevention and up to 4 times daily at the first show of cold/flu symptoms. May be administered in a cup of hot warm, sweetened to taste.

WARNING: This stuff tastes awful… almost like a cross between varnish and shellac… but it WILL kill the flu virus.

China’s deadly coronavirus may have the same death rate as Spanish flu, an expert has warned.

Deaths from the new virus rose to 17 on last Wednesday with thousandss of cases now confirmed, increasing fears of widespread contagion.

The previously unknown flu-like coronavirus strain is believed to have emerged from an animal market in central Wuhan city, with cases now detected as far away as the US.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 is widely regarded as “the deadliest in history”, and is believed to have infected around
China’s deadly coronavirus may have the same death rate as Spanish flu, an expert has warned.

Then, going back a couple of years, we find this news article in 2017;
A laboratory in Wuhan built in cooperation with theUS CDC, is on the cusp of being cleared to work with the world’s most dangerous pathogens. The move is part of a plan to build between five and seven biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs across the Chinese mainland by 2025, and has generated much excitement, as well as some concerns.

Some scientists outside China worry about pathogens escaping, and the addition of a biological dimension to geopolitical tensions between China and other nations. But Chinese microbiologists are celebrating their entrance to the elite cadre empowered to wrestle with the world’s greatest biological threats.

“It will offer more opportunities for Chinese researchers, and our contribution on the BSL‑4-level pathogens will benefit the world,” says George Gao, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology in Beijing. There are already two BSL-4 labs in Taiwan, but the National Bio-safety Laboratory, Wuhan, would be the first on the Chinese mainland.

The lab was certified as meeting the standards and criteria of BSL-4 by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) in January. The CNAS examined the lab’s infrastructure, equipment and management, says a CNAS representative, paving the way for the Ministry of Health to give its approval. A representative from the ministry says it will move slowly and cautiously; if the assessment goes smoothly, it could approve the laboratory by the end of June 2017.

All this is just a strange coincidence, I’m sure.

The Chinese government has cancelled most of the public celebrations for the Chinese New Year after quarantining a number of Chinese cities with populations of over 20 million affected. Such draconian quarantines are unprecedented, and, with the delay in restricting travel for the Chinese New Year of questionable effectiveness. What this shows, if nothing else, is that the Chinese government is spooked by this way more than would be justified by the official numbers.

With outbreaks of cases in Viet Nam, Thailand, Japan, The US, Mexico, Dubai and suspected cases in Scotland, the Chinese infection numbers are so much “Hokum”.

Just look at the statistical chance that 4000 infected people happened to have infected three travelers to Scotland. Zero Chance there may be 100,000 thousands of infections by now to translate to 3 upper class Chinese travelers arriving in Scotland at the same time.

Unless it was a coordinated Biologic attack… or an accidental release.

A newly identified virus originating in central China is spreading between people primarily through coughing, kissing or contact with saliva, Chinese authorities suggested, as the death toll rose to 17 and the number of confirmed cases surpassed 500.

The number of infections from the new pneumonia-causing coronavirus has multiplied in recent days, with 546 confirmed cases in mainland China as of Wednesday, according to state broadcaster China Central Television and local Chinese authorities, up from more than 300 announced the previous day . From its initial emergence in a seafood and livestock market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the virus has spread across China and, as of Tuesday, into the U.S.

In Hong Kong, health authorities said Wednesday that it was likely a patient had been infected with the new coronavirus, in what would be the Chinese territory’s first confirmed case. The patient, a 39-year-old man from Wuhan, had arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Hong Kong Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan said at a news conference. Preliminary examinations had shown the man testing positive for the virus, Ms. Chan said.

Additionally, across the Pearl River, the Chinese territory of Macau confirmed its first case Wednesday: a 52-year-old woman who had taken a high-speed train from Wuhan, Chinese state media reported.

Several provinces and territories in China, including Fujian, Anhui, Liaoning and Guizhou, announced their first confirmed infection cases, according to CCTV and local Chinese authorities. The province of Hubei, of which Wuhan is the capital and largest city, late Wednesday reported a total 444 confirmed cases, up from 270 announced the previous day. It has been the only region to report deaths from the virus so far—rising to 17 from six a day earlier.

This week, Zhong Nanshan, one of the country’s best-known epidemiologists, confirmed suspicions that the novel coronavirus was spreading between humans , which would allow the disease to be transmitted among people who don’t interact with any animals. The virus is believed to have spread to humans from animals at the Wuhan market.

Chinese hospitals are stepping up preventive measures, health officials say, and government officials are recommending that people not enter or leave Wuhan.

• Some experts said they believe the threshold for the outbreak to be declared an international emergency had been reached.
• Dr. Peter Horby, a professor of emerging infectious diseases at Oxford University, said there were three criteria for such a determination: the outbreak must be an extraordinary event, there must be a risk of international spread and a globally coordinated response is required.
  
  “In my opinion, those three criteria have been met,” he said.
• Officials said it was too early to compare the new virus with SARS or MERS, or Middle East respiratory syndrome, in terms of how lethal it might be. They attributed the spike in new cases to improvements in detection and monitoring.

One veteran of the SARS outbreak said that while there are some similarities in the new virus — namely its origins in China and the link to animals — the current outbreak appears much milder.

Dr. David Heymann, who headed WHO’s global response to SARS in 2003, said the new virus appears dangerous for older people with other health conditions, but doesn’t seem nearly as infectious as SARS.

“It looks like it doesn’t transmit through the air very easily and probably transmits through close contact,” he said. “That was not the case with SARS.”

Last Thursday morning the Chinese government quarantined all 11 million residents of Wuhan, prohibiting anyone from leaving the area. By Thursday afternoon, 7 cities were under lockdown in #China due to #WuhanCoronavirus. All near Wuhan. 12million more people restricted from traveling. (Wuhan: 11million Huanggang: 7.5million Ezhou: 1million Zhijiang: 550thousand Qianjiang: 962Thousand Chibi: 530Thousand Xiantao: 1.6million).

Government sources are stating that this virus is not as deadly as SARS, but it is still early in the game and it shows all of the signs of a pandemic.

I had an ugly thought recently regarding the homeless problem in California. There were Typhus outbreaks this past summer, and I am not sure if that is still ongoing.

The homeless population is defecating in the streets and on the sidewalks. These are similar conditions to the open sewers that were common during the Black Plague. We know there are plenty of rats and fleas from the Typhus.

Plague is endemic to prairie dog populations in the Southwest. It is not a great leap to think that plague can get started in the CA homeless population. There are always a few cases of plague each year. If the homeless and sanitation problems in CA continue or get worse it is only a matter of time.

There have been

some recent plague in China too. Much higher population. Ditto in the Congo. It is rather ‘common’ worldwide but only in small case numbers.

Rats and fleas [which will move to other animals and humans, though fleas prefer their own variety of mammal]. Pnuemonic spread is the most dangerous.

China will just order the slaughter of all pets [since pretty much everything else has been eaten/non-existent]. Congo doesn’t have the ability to do more than set up antibiotic clinics — to much wild space.

California won’t order animal slaughter in the cities. Probably will put rat traps up. [if they haven’t]. They will just treat the homeless as they get sick. Some of the homeless will functioning brain cells will go somewhere else — which could spread it further from the outbreak point.

One thing to note about the plague of the Black Death – most of the deaths came from pneumonic plague, not plague from flea bites. Pneumonia from the plague is almost as bad as Anthrax pneumonia, in that you can be well past treatment when the Docs figure out what it is you have.

Y. pestis can be misidentified by some (if not most) automated bacterial ID systems, which means that the patient might not be isolated rapidly, the microbiology staff might not take the correct precautions in the lab, the nursing staff or family members might become secondary victims.
Just like the measles, chicken pox, mumps and other childhood diseases that have become rare (or should have become rare) a lot of young doctors are unable to recognize Y. pestis infections rapidly. Doctors aren’t taught to see things the way they once were. There is, instead, always a test or an image or something that can be ordered, instead of using a good patient history and common sense.

Cities historically had always been disease and population sinks. They had negative population growth and required regular emigration from the surrounding agricultural countryside. With that emigration and trade which also carried disease folks were dying all the time. Perhaps we are returning to that standard.

In the Middle Ages, wealthier people in England would move to their country estates when there was an outbreak. The millionaire Libs in Cali can tolerate the homeless, but if they start spreading the Black Death they’ll all probably end up quarantined in an old military base. Plague epidemics mainly affected areas with high population densities and areas that depended on grain for food. When the rats exhausted the grain stores, they’d die and the fleas would move to humans. There is a reason why the rich in the Middle Ages had country homes to raise their families.

Some might sat; “Its treatable with antibiotics.. not an issue unless it outpaces antibiotics.”

There is a problem with that thinking relative to treating viruses. We are outpacing antibiotics. At some point, there will be something that kicks off that is antibiotic-resistant, (think MERSA). It is only a matter of time.