Tom Brokaw says that he's stocking food, water and medicines for a possible bird flu pandemic - 27-Dec-05 - Generational Dynamics

Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Dec-05

Tom Brokaw says that he's stocking food, water and medicines for a possible bird flu pandemic

Emphasizing the seriousness of the threat, Sunday's Meet the Press presented one of the clearest messages in the mainstream media for individuals to make some serious preparations. (Transcript)

"This virus has crossed the species barrier. It has infected humans," said Dr. Michael Ryan of the World Health Organization in the lead-in. "It's killing a high proportion of those human beings and we need to prepare for the possibility of a pandemic."

Ted Koppel, who anchored the "Nightline" show at ABC News for 21 years until his recent retirement, said that, when it comes to something like bird flu, "You have to alarm people because until people are sufficiently alarmed they're not going to listen to what has to happen."

Koppel added,

"Among the things we need to do, and it sounds horrific, to say it, is to put in a decent supply of food and water and whatever medicine is needed by a family in each American home now, before it's too late, so that if, and when, a flu hits an area, like, let's say, our area here in Washington, the people, especially older people, or people who have breathing problems, lung problems, people who have heart problems, can afford to stay home for two or three weeks, or longer."

Then there was the following conversation:

MR. KOPPEL: No, in truth. Have you?

MR. BROKAW: We have.

MR. KOPPEL: Have you?

MR. BROKAW: Yeah.

MR. KOPPEL: Good for you.

MR. BROKAW: Well, we did it for a couple of reasons. Meredith -- we live in New York and we have a house outside of New York and Meredith said, "This is going to be our sanctuary. We have to be prepared in case something happens." And we did put in a small supply of food and water and ... other things to have on the ready.

As far as I know, Tom Brokaw, who anchored NBC's "Nightly News" for 39 years, is the first major media person to announce that he's made preparations so that he and his wife and family can spend an extended time at home, in case of a bird flu quarantine.

Now that the regular flu season has begun, and regular human flu is spreading in America, Asia and Europe, the chances of a mutation that will allow the highly pathenogenic H5N1 to spread from human to human are increasing.

That's because the way it will most likely happen is for a human being (or a pig) to get both the regular flu and H5N1 at the same time. At that time, the genes from the two forms of the virus can recombine to form an H5N1 virus that can move easily from human to human.

This might happen next week, next month, next year or after that.

If it happens this season, the most likely time would be during the Chinese and Vietnamese new year celebrations in January and February, when many people will be travelling, and more poultry would be transported, slaughtered and consumed.

Experts are encouraging people to prepare for an H5N1 pandemic by stocking up on food and water and currency and batteries for the entire household to live on for 2-3 months. This may cost a thousand dollars per person, but it's not wasted money since you can always eat the food later if no emergency occurs. Get canned or dried food that can last a long time in storage, and get a large container for storing water. Keep in mind that stored water becomes impure with time, so you'll also need some purifying tablets or bleach to kill bacteria in the water when the time comes. Finally, get whatever medicines you'll need to take care of yourself and your family for a long period of time. (27-Dec-05) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Dec-05 Tom Brokaw says that he's stocking food, water and medicines for a possible bird flu pandemic

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 27-Dec-05
Tom Brokaw says that he's stocking food, water and medicines for a possible bird flu pandemic