Oink Oink

"The EU's health commissioner calls on people to avoid traveling to Mexico and the United States..."

So, the plague has arrived.

I was a total 'disaster junkie' back in the 90's, spurred on partly by my weird dreams of future catastrophes and all the horrific prophecies set to culminate in the 1998 to 2012 timeframe. You better believe I went to the theater for '12 Monkeys', 'Dante's Peak', 'Outbreak', 'Independence Day', 'Volcano', etc. (Ok, so I still love apocalyptic movies. Give me 'War of the Worlds' or 'I Am Legend' any day.)

[Update: Just found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I2pLJ_hPbU . 2012. Ooooo! Yeah, baby! One thing about living over here is... you never know a damned thing about movies until everyone in America does, lol. Or is that just me?...]

I read 'The Coming Plague' by Laurie Garrett in its entirety. Go ahead, ask me something about ebola or the 1918 flu virus that killed 50 million+ people (in a world with much less population and significantly less international travel). I've even done C.E.R.T. training. I've got my trusty hard hat still and I know how to turn off the gas after a quake, how to successfully put out small fires and how to do basic triage in a disaster. (Not that my certificate means shit in Germany, but I have it.)

So, there's a confirmed case now of Swine Flu in Spain and suspected cases in Scotland. Doesn't take long to get overseas these days. I guess we're lucky that summer's about here. The question now is if this is another SARS & Bird Flu situation, where the media and gov't agencies will scare the shit out of us for months for (almost) nothing (not that 100 people dead is nothing), or if this is... it. If so, ouch, is this fall and winter going to SUCK.

It could turn out to just be overblown scare tactics, but the fact is that this is sounding similar (even H1N1) to the 1918 flu. (Hmm, and just where did it come from? Conspiracy theories come to mind, ahem.) I saw a good documentary some years back about 1918 and I'll tell you... that's scary. There were so many people dead in the US even that everything was closed down and bodies were piling up faster than morgues could handle.

And no, Tamiflu won't save your butt. It could help, yes. Maybe. But it's not a cure, for certain. IF you get started on it soon enough, it could help REDUCE the length of time you're sick. But it won't save you.

Nor will those cute little surgical masks. That is, unless you get the really good kind (US standard N95 or EU standard EN 149 FFP2), it fits correctly with no gaps, you also cover your eyes completely and you disinfect yourself before going into your home, throwing out the mask and sanitizing your clothes, shopping bag & contents, goggles and scrubbing yourself down with Purell. And then there are your windows. Conceivably, you could stay at home with no contact to the outside world, but the coughing folks outside would spew their aerosol flu droplets into the air, which would be carried in through tiny gaps along the edge of your window. Bam, you've got it. Sucks, huh? (Ok, wearing an N95 mask and goggles outdoors and scrubbing your hands well should help significantly, but it will never be a guarantee.) I guess in this case the survivalist nuts will have one up on all of us. A year's supply of food and water in their underground bunker with super purified air =;-)

So, if this turns out to really be a big deal and not just undue panic, besides hoping they pull a vaccine out of their butts really freakin' soon, here are some websites of interest to check out. It's also wise to eat plenty of fruits, veggies and lean protein, get regular exercise (but don't overdue it even once, because that can do you in) and get enough sleep every night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu

http://www.n-95mask.com/avian_flu_mask.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_4933231_stay-healthy-avoid-swine-flu.html

P.S. If anyone actually knows where to find real hand sanitizer (like alcohol gel/Purell) in Germany, by all means share. We asked for it, explained what it was, etc, at several pharmacies last year and they looked at us like we were crazy. I like to clean my hands anytime I've been in doc's office or we're about to eat something & a bathroom isn't convenient. We found some sanitizer wipes (like handy wipes) at Kaufland before. If all else fails, there's Sagrotan wipes (by cleaning supplies in drug stores & at some pharmacies). They're supposedly just for wiping surfaces, but the main ingredient is ethanol, so I don't see why you couldn't use it on your hands with some lotion once or twice a day to keep them from drying out.

ALSO... a creepy dream I had in 2007:
My husbunny was sick or something and couldn't leave the house at all and I HAD to get some medicine for him. Everything in Germany was closing down when I left to take the Straßenbahn down south to the doctor's office. There weren't many people outside, and those that were were wearing surgical masks and looking panicky. I knew there was some type of pandemic going on, but I didn't have a choice but to be out. I reached the clinic/hospital and managed to catch the doctor just as he was leaving. Even they were shutting down. Everyone was scared, wearing masks and trying to avoid contact with others. I got the medicine and got back home, but I was terrified I'd possibly contracted the disease and was now bringing it home for the both of us.