OP Readers, as you’re well aware, most of the focus from a medical perspective regarding diseases has been centered on the Covid pandemic. “Sideshows” have also surfaced, such as monkeypox, as well as the reappearance of avian flu (in U.S. poultry flocks and in England). Serious as these are, in a post-apocalytic setting, they’ll take a back seat to diseases that can prove just as deadly under the right conditions; diseases that most of us either ignore or take for granted.
Let’s jump into it.
Here are the situations that can lead to disease increase…
Nuclear war is the most likely global catastrophe to befall us in the short term. There are other profound cataclysms that can be equal or greater in severity, such as a huge solar flare that can cook the surface of the Earth, an impact by a comet or a giant meteor, a sudden pole shift with corresponding (and immediate) temperature loss, or a pandemic with a much more lethal/virulent pathogen.
Okay. Let’s say that one of these has occurred. The breakdown in “Fisher-Price land’s” infrastructure will be immediate. The loss of power (the electrical grid and the generators themselves), the loss of potable water, the cessation of all transport of food, medicines, and vital supplies, and the immediate deaths of hundreds of millions of people will be too much. The system will collapse in under a day.
All service and support mechanisms, such as hospitals, doctors’ offices, firefighting services, and police departments, will be overwhelmed, understaffed, and will end up “fizzling out” in less than a week. This will occur when the realization sets in that everything will not be coming back.
Conditions are ripe.
The survivors of the initial event must now prepare to deal with a host of different problems. In an instant, the society will have reverted to something similar to medieval Europe, and probably worse. Diseases once thought extinct or “under control” will emerge once more to become constant, prevalent in all nations.
The raw, untreated sewage in all of the urban and suburban areas will be there, as will the mountainous landfills choked with garbage. Hundreds of millions of dead – unburied – will add to this. Ruined municipal cisterns and pipe networks will create biological nightmares. Hand-in-hand with this will be the inability to obtain fresh running water to transport the sewage, as well as for drinking.
The cities will become deathtraps for those who have survived and either haven’t escaped from them or entered them in the hopes of finding refuge and supplies. We haven’t even mentioned radiation, in the case of nuclear war, or all of the different nuclear power plants that will no longer be able to cool their reactors.
A conservative estimate places several thousand bio-research labs throughout the United States, in addition to the “biggies” located at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, Plum Island in New York (now being “relocated” to Kansas), and the CDC labs in Atlanta, Georgia. Containment will go right out the window. Some of the most lethal diseases known to man are kept in these facilities.
In the ruins and in the abandoned neighborhoods and towns, the rodents and insects will begin to spread and multiply unchecked. They will become vectors, a term to describe animals or insects that harbor/carry and spread diseases. Along with the rodents will come their passengers, the fleas and ticks. Scoff, if you will, but Europe lost two-thirds of its population in the 14th century to “The Black Death,” or Bubonic Plague. The disease was never eradicated and as such, it will be the first illness we cover.
Bubonic Plague (Yersinia pestis) and its “offshoots”
This disease is caused by a bacterium. It’s transmitted by the “passengers” listed in the previous paragraph. This is the way it works. The flea contracts the disease, and it closes off its esophageal passage.
Big deal? You bet it is.
The flea’s main food supply is blood, and when it can’t swallow and take in the amount of food it needs? It bites…again and again. In a hunger-maddened frenzy to try to feed, it hops from victim to victim, spreading the bacteria as it bites its new quarries. One flea can infect many victims (people, dogs, rodents) before it succumbs.
The happy rhyme sung by children, “Ring Around the Rosie,” has much darker implications. It’s true (original) words were such.
Ring around the rosie, a pocketful of posies
Ah-tishoo! Ah-tishoo! And we all fall down!
This referred to the bubo, a pustulent, festering mass usually found under the armpit, neck, or groin (in the lymph node areas), surrounded by a red or white ring, evidencing infection by Plague. The “pocketful of posies” referred to fresh, aromatic flowers to ward it off. “Ah-tishoo” is sneezing, a late symptom of the illness just prior to the victim’s earthly departure…which is the “falling down” part.
But wait…there’s more! The plague can also be transmitted by inhaling the bacteria, in which the symptoms and afflictions are much worse…going right into the lungs…hence, becoming pneumonic plague. Death is almost certain unless it’s treated immediately after infection.
Then there’s the possibility of septicemic plague, where either by a bite or inhalation, so many bacteria go into the bloodstream that the person dies from a form of septic shock.
Symptoms are high fever, nausea, pain in the joints, vomiting, dizziness, and severe headache.
Giardia (Giardia lamblia)
Giardia poses a major problem, especially when untreated, unclean water is taken in. After a post-apocalyptic scenario, the options may be limited between dying of thirst or taking the chance of contaminated water. Boiling water for 30 minutes will do the trick.
Giardia lives in the intestines of the infected person, and one bowel movement will release millions of the organisms, a protozoan. Diarrhea is the biggest (and most severe) symptom. It’s serious because the infected person can quickly become dehydrated. Giardia can also form cysts, and this is what makes it very serious. They are resistant to chlorine (bleach).
Cysts are a robust form that the Giardia can live in when conditions are not favorable for it…and they can remain in this dormant state of near hibernation for months. The surest way to deal with them is by boiling the water, prolonged, for 30 minutes or more.
As you might have guessed, transmission here is the fecal-oral route, and this is why it will be so predominant in a post-collapse environment. With limited fresh water, survivor hygiene will be difficult, and it will be easy to transmit the Giardia if the proper sanitary precautions aren’t taken. We’ll cover those procedures shortly.
E. coli (Escherichia coli)
We’ve heard of this bacterial infection breaking out plenty of times in the news. My personal favorite was when Roger Riney (the former CEO of Yum Foods) came on TV about 15 years ago to tell everyone that Taco Bell was “safe to eat in once more,” after people ran to the emergency room after “running to the border.”
“Yum” foods, eh? All kidding aside, an E. coli infection can kill. The bacteria produce deadly proteins and toxins. Poorly-cooked ground beef is usually the culprit in the food industry because the organism thrives in cattle. Fecal-oral is also a vehicle of transmission, once again being preventable with good sanitary procedures.
More than 75,000 people per year become ill from it, with around 60 to 70 dying from it annually. Take note: this is under ideal conditions, where hospitals and medical treatment are available. It attacks the intestines and kidneys and can cause renal failure in the latter. Severe stomach cramps and diarrhea occur, and the stool is usually red. This is because hemorrhagic colitis has occurred, where the lining of the intestines is so damaged that the intestines are actively bleeding.
If the bacteria enter the rest of the body? Then the kidneys shut down because of hemolytic uremic syndrome, and high fever arises. The death rate is 15 out of 100 at this stage. Once again, that rate is under current (ideal) conditions, but in “The Day After Doomsday,” that rate will increase dramatically.
Hepatitis A
Here’s our first viral disease. The primary route of transmission is fecal-oral, especially from contaminated water, contaminated utensils, or eating fish/seafood taken from contaminated waters. Usually, the patient will carry it for anywhere from 14 to 45 days before it manifests itself. Sickness of the stomach, fever, fatigue/tiredness, yellowed eyes, and dark urine are some signs and symptoms.
These will last from 2 to 6 months. If you get through it, then you will have acquired immunity from it if you encounter it again. The biggest thing to keep in mind here is proper sanitation and the proper (complete) cooking of your food. In a world similar to the movie The Road keep in mind that a debilitated body is much more susceptible to disease, as well as being sluggish and less inclined to follow proper hygiene and sanitation.
Cholera (Vibrio cholerae)
Another bacterial infection, this one is very serious; a water-borne illness that can kill a person within 24 hours. The primary method of transmission is from drinking infected water or eating contaminated food. The disease presents with a fall in blood pressure, severe pain and cramps in the stomach and legs, and a sudden drop in body temperature that accompanies organ failure.
Within 24 hours, the patient can die without immediate medical treatment.
If the patient makes it, though, he or she can still transmit the disease for up to 15 months by shedding particles of bacteria. This disease runs rampant where municipal sanitation facilities have failed. In 1885, a severe storm with heavy rains hit Chicago. The sewers flooded and then spilled into the city’s drinking-water supply, a lake on the edge of town.
Cholera struck, and more than 80,000 people died from this outbreak.
Those are serious numbers. With cholera, supportive care measures are crucial, such as hydration. Water and salts are the “biggies” that a person will lose, due to the diarrhea, which is crippling and almost uncontrollable, with a “thin” consistency like rice-water.
(Lack of food is a huge cause of disease after a disaster. So, make sure you read our free QUICKSTART Guide to building your 3-layer food storage system.)
Rabies (Family Rhabdoviridae)
For an idea of the severity of the aggressive symptoms and the rapidity of onset, I recommend watching the classic movie Old Yeller. Mammals (both wild and domestic), including dogs, cats, raccoons, cattle, and even bats…can transmit rabies through bites or scratches. The virus moves from the point of infection (bite, scratch) into the nerves and then to the brain via the spinal cord.
Eighty percent of the patients develop severe paranoia, along with an aversion to any water (hence it was termed “hydrophobia” back in the mid-19th century, from the Greek, meaning “fear of water”). Eventually, the victim cannot breathe. The remaining 20 percent have “dumb” leprosy, which renders them sluggish/paralyzed until they pass away.
The incubation period lasts from one week, to up to six years.
An incubation period refers to the time from initial infection, to the time when the signs and symptoms of that infection begin to take effect. Keep in mind: the asymptomatic patient (showing no signs of illness, but they’re infected) can transmit the disease. A person could walk around and not know he or she is infected and still pass on that infection to someone else.
Bottom line: treatment (the Rabies vaccine) is only effective if the signs and symptoms have not started yet, so speed is of the essence.
There are around 10,000 cases or more in the U.S. annually, and few deaths, but worldwide, more than 50,000 people die from it per year. It’s a very serious disease.
Typhus
Again, the flea is one of the main culprits of transmission (a vector); the flea carries the bacteria Rickettsia typhi. Culprit number two is the louse (lice), and they carry the bacteria Rickettsia prowazekii.
Severe headache and fever present themselves by those infected within 6 to 14 days after having been bitten. Within a week, rashes appear on the torso, front and back. Most people recover when these rashes disappear. Others pass out into a coma after renal (kidney) failure.
There are preventative measures to keep you safe from disease after the collapse.
Ben Franklin was spot on when he wrote, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Your first step to preventing these not-so-serious-now diseases from taking hold of you or your family: be aware of the conditions that are favorable for them, and know about each one of them individually.
This won’t take too much effort, as the Internet will enable you to download comprehensive information on each disease. Do what I did: allocate a three-ring binder with your diseases in alphabetical order. Research the methods of transmission, as well as the treatments for them.
I’m not going to delve into treatment for them; this article is for informational purposes, to give you an insight into what we’ll all be facing if the “substance” hits the fan. For medical advice, you’ll have to talk to your State-approved, licensed, happy physician, “Dr. Doolittle,” if you can pry him off his golf course and get a straight answer out of him.
We live in a soft-socialist state, transforming into a totalitarian nation by the day. If anything, that is the reason to prepare, and not just with “supplies.” You have to study and learn, because the primary care provider just may end up being you.
The keys will be good hygiene and sanitation.
You have to uphold this for yourself and instill it into others so that they “run with the ball.” Everyone in your family/group has to make these a priority. Let’s throw these priorities into a list to follow to get the ball rolling.
- Boil all water: standing surface, flowing, or suspected water prior to drinking it, or washing with it. Boil any water you’re not 100% sure that it’s safe and clean.
- Establish a latrine/bathroom point: away from your water and food supplies, and do a controlled burn periodically (no longer than weekly).
- Personal cleanliness and handwashing: absolute musts. This will help to eliminate transmission, especially by the fecal-oral route.
- Preparation of food: Utensils must be clean and sanitized, and the food must be cooked entirely. The days of Beefsteak Tartar, and Sushi bars will be over at this point. You’ll have enough to deal with, without being bedridden or worse because of some uncooked food.
- Sanitize your common areas of living: Clean and air out your bedding, inspecting for any insects that may be vectors. Wipe down surfaces that you may be using to prepare your meals.
- Protect exposed/standing water supplies: (water drums, pools, open wells: cover these up with screening to help prevent mosquitoes from producing larvae in the water.
- “On the Move.” This means, although you’re prepared and ready with all of your supplies in your fortress in the woods, you may be forced to leave your location. No matter what the situation, you have to carry out those first six steps.
With your research, you’ll learn what antibiotics and medicines to stockpile. Another biggie: if you can’t obtain it over the counter or through regular channels, you better know where to find it. Watch the films World War Z, and Greenland, where the protagonists had kids with medical conditions. Watch the “mob” scenes at the pharmacies carefully.
You may find yourself in a similar situation, and it would be helpful to know where to obtain things in your locale. Enough said on that.
(Want uninterrupted access to The Organic Prepper? Check out our paid-subscription newsletter.)
Summary
The greatest insight comes when disastrous situations occur, and you see human nature at its roots for what it is. Yeah, we all “hope for the best,” but start preparing yourself mentally for what may be lurking just around the corner. We’ve outlined some basic diseases, and believe it or not, the best preventative measures are simple to place into operation.
When you’ve lived in the woods a long time, or been in the field on deployments, you understand the practicality (coupled with the necessity) of field hygiene and sanitation. With a collapse – in any of the forms mentioned at the beginning of this piece – you’ll have to rely on your wits and initiative to make it through after the initial occurrence. You’ll have to fight smart, not just hard, in order to defeat the pathogens.
They’re not evil. They’re organisms, trying to survive in the manner that they know how, that is instinctive to them. If you understand that going into it, then your focus can be placed on the steps you must take to defeat them, and to negate the conditions under which they thrive and multiply. These are the basics…the building blocks to lay your foundation with in your survival community, regardless of its size.
Think with your head and also with your heart. Prioritize what we’ve covered. You have to “game” it from a scenario that you may even be caught away from home…with next to nothing, except what is on your person or in your vehicle. “Game” the entire spectrum of possibilities in your mind and on paper. You can do it! Others may be depending on you, so first and foremost, have faith in yourself.
Keep in that good fight, and pray without ceasing. JJ out!
What are your thoughts?
Are there any diseases you would add to this list? Do you have any additional suggestions for preventative measures? Share your opinions in the comments.
About Jeremiah Johnson
Jeremiah Johnson is the nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the U.S. Army Special Forces. Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith and a Master Herbalist. He graduated from the Special Forces course at SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, and escape) School, and is an expert in small unit tactics, survival, and disaster-preparedness. He lives in a cabin in the Rocky Mountains of Western Montana.
Good research. Thanks for writing this.
I’d also add listeria to the list.
After working at Immigration, I can tell you tuberculosis is a huge problem. Certain groups of people had a 90% infection rate. Worse, it’s drug-resistant. The explosion of illegals is bringing an explosion of disease that nobody talks about because all they think about is C@vid. This is insane — anyone who does healthcare at Immigration will tell you what a serious issue this is.
Wow! I didn’t know this. Makes sense. Thank you.
Thanks for this article JJ and TOP.
Re tuberculosis: is it possible that vitamin K2 may have a role in preventing tuberculosis? This is speculative, but here’s my line of reasoning: the swiss sanatorium movement started in the alps because of the observation that the healthy populations up there didn’t seem to get tuberculosis. It was later identified that the mineral rich pastures up there allowed a high level of vitamin K2 to form in the butter fat produced from animals grazing the early summer grass. I’ve been thinking a lot about how to build long term healthy populations whether or not antibiotics are available (or just not any longer functional, the case of multiple-resistant tuberculosis strains). Modern industrialised diets don’t tend to have much of the traditional foods that contain K2 — bone marrow, fish eggs and so on.
Not just illegals – airline passengers from other countries are prime carriers. Happened in the 90s, I remember it well and unfortunately had done some travel for business.
Simple internet search will get your hands on good antibiotics without a prescription. Be prepared for bank card to deny the charge, have to remove the block and reorder. Purchase is from overseas…
Do you have a website that you have used??
Thank you for this information! It was
a real eye opener. As we prep for the coming crisis we sometimes forget about the aftermath!????
If total collapse happens, I doubt we can turn to the internet for information as you suggested. If the grid collapses, bye bye internet!
Dysentary and cholora. The first has msny vectors, some named here: giardia, food poisoning, erc. But the second is urine and particulate animal crap consumed via common water sources. Both kill primarily through dehydration via “the runs” aka diarrehea in the G/I tract. A rolling boil for 30 minutes sterilizes both, a common practice during beer brewing to extract sugars from grains, hence weak beer with most meals. Just saying. Drinkers will last longer than either of the other two. #3 is intestinal parasites, they starver you to death anf kill many 3rd world children. The cure is to grow a large pumpkin patch ary ound your place and eat the seeds. They contain a chemical yhat forces those parasites to let go of yout intestinal wall so you can crap them out. FLIES WILL REINFECT YOU SO PILE THAT OUTHOUSE HOLE WITH KINDLING AND BURN A NICEF HOT FIRE IN THERE AFTER YOU ARE FREE OF THEM, OR POUR A GALLON OF BLEACH OVER THEM.
Papaya seeds are anti-parasitic, but I haven’t personally tried them.
Those of us who raise poultry are well aware of the pumpkin seed ‘thing’. A google search, though, will reveal a study that shows ALL Cucurbits contain cucurbin – which is the chemical you are talking about. All the hard and soft squashes, plus cucumbers (which gave the family it’s name) have it and fortunately most poultry and humans alike enjoy both, or at least some variety of them. Be aware that it is more valuable as a preventative than a cure, making the gut somewhat inhospitable in the 1st place (paraphrasing the study). It will not kill them, as so many people think. Nor will it make them ALL let go until you’ve been eating a LOT of them for weeks – by which time you might be dead. Between spring & summer cukes/squashes and winter hard squashes (including pumpkin) we can easily take our ‘medicine’ at least weekly.
This article was very useful albeit troubling. Thank you to Jeremiah for writing it and Daisy for posting it!
I am wondering if there is a sole source of information that lists the smaller sized bio labs in the US? The article lists a few of the larger ones but it would be good to have a comprehensive list of the smaller ones that might be hidden in plain sight so to speak.
Thank you again!
https://www.globalbiolabs.org/map does this help? just google it
Yes thank you!! I appreciate your time and effort! I wasn’t sure if there was any kind of listing.
J.J.
Great article.
More people will die of water borne, oral-fecal illnesses and diseases then any other post-SHTF. Currently, over 3.4million people a year die of water borne diseases (source: WHO).
Saw it in Afghanistan. They were having a drought, more so than usual. As water supplies dried up, people gathered around single water sources. Some yahoo crapped, or washed their soiled clothing, baby and had a cholera outbreak. Only a UN humanitarian mission (IV hydration solutions) kept the deaths down.
Daisy wrote an article about the aftermath of hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. Someone up stream crapped in the same river people were using down stream for drinking. People got sick.
Say you have a source, and the means to filter it safely. Living in an urban, sub-buran or rural area, how far is the walk? Do you live on the 3rd or 4th floor of an apartment complex and have to take the stairs (Note: one (1) gallon of water weights 8.33lbs)? What containers do you have now, that could be used to transport the water from the source to your home? How much water do you need a day for you and your family? One trip? Two? Is the area secure? Or MZBs roaming the streets?
There are some obvious mistakes here:
1. SHTF will probably be an orchestrated event by the Elite. A World wide economic collapse is most likely. A National war, a Civil war or a Natural Disaster seems to be high on the list also. Nuclear war is least likely (except in the movies and in books).
2. Nuclear power plans will not melt down from cooling issues!
That flaw was addressed world wide, after the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The same goes for the Spent Fuel Rod, cooling pools. New regulation were made, new safe guards instituted and closer inspections are being done to ensure the rules are being followed. All the new systems require no maintenance and allow for the lack of electrical power.
Out of date or incorrect info is the Preppers worst enemy, second to that is spreading such info.
3. Giardia and all other nasties are killed after boiling water for about 1 minute, not 30 min.
4. Rabies may incubate for up to 25 years (not 6 yrs), based on a case, reported in India. But the incubation period for rabies in humans is typically 2–3 months.
It is also not just from dog bites (which is most common), but from other animal bites as well.
In the long run you are probably more apt to die from a disease, after a natural disaster or SHTF, than by anything else. So prepare accordingly.
On this site we appreciate mutual respect. We know that the author is trained and kind enough to publish this for free. Yet, we don’t know your level of training. I have two degrees yet would not speak to a kindergartner with the same tone you chose. I think you meant well. That I appreciate yet your tone matters too because we need community as well as knowledge. I feel enjoined to study how long I need to boil water to kill pathogens. Thank you for that.
My husband works at a power plant and we have had many, many talks on this subject. There are new protocols in place that make it better but someone still needs to be there to oversee it. It is likely that in the event on a SHTF situation the plant will turn off power and shut down the reactor. Nuclear really is safer than a lot of other forms of energy. I don’t worry about this because my husband is there and he would let me know whats happening.
Most of the diseases mentioned arose from nature. In the twentieth century we learned the hard way that some ailments are man-made. Often when those are bad enough, history shows that governments will lie through their teeth to either protect their own political power base or to protect the politically powerful oligarch class — or both. The classic example was in the fall of 1917 when a meningitis problem showed up in US army camps. A Rockefeller Foundation medical operation devised a poorly tested vaccine and sold it to the army (which had adopted a mandatory vaccine system in 1911 — which turned the GIs into defenseless guinea pigs).
In the Spring of 1918 at Ft. Riley, Kansas the injected GIs began to get sick. This didn’t slow down the Rockefeller machine one bit. That vaccine was sold to several foreign countries as well … and the resulting global death total has been estimated to range between 50 million and 100 million worldwide — including more German soldiers during WWI than combat. After the war Germany sent some investigators to America to try to learn what on earth had happened. Our medics told them that “well, our biological experiments sorta got out of hand.” We didn’t learn about that conversation until our CIA interrogated the ex-chief of the German Gestapo in the late 1940s.
Of course during the war news censorship inside the warring countries kept any semblance of truth a complete secret. Spain was not part of that war and so when news of the illness and deaths first appeared in Spanish newspapers, it was the perfect excuse for the corrupt Wilson government to label that strange illness of “mysterious origin” as the Spanish Flu — a bald-faced lie that’s been maintained to this present day.
So some relevant lessons for today? We know that after the US Congress formally outlawed doing “gain of function” bio-warfare research in the US, Anthony Fauci slipped several million dollars to the Wuhan Lab in China. And not surprisingly …a simulation was run in the fall of 2019 just a few months before Covid-19 hit the American news in the Spring of 2020.
Similarly we learn that a similar simulation on Monkey Pox was run a few months before it was sprung on the public.
All indications are that we may be facing an endless series of Covid mutations given the tyrannical powers seized by government are not likely to be relinquished. We also know that the minority of doctors who reject the death-dealing ventilator treatment (promoted by government) and reject the poorly tested and life-threatening Big Pharma vaccines in favor of proven remedies such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine (that have saved millions of lives in other countries) face government threats in the US to lose their medical license and their income.
It means that we need to learn who those courageous medics are and support them in every way possible. FYI — just one of their websites is
https://myfreedoctor.com/
Other alternatives might include keeping your US passport current (and a short term bug-out kit) so you can save your life in a less tyrannical country.
To put matters into different verbiage … this is government war against its own population.
–Lewis
I’m thankful to have one of those brave doctors willing to prescribe ivermectin and hcq. That along with many natural treatments we did at home saved my husbands life and avoided a dreaded hospital stay. It’s extremely important to have a doctor on the same page before you have a medical emergency. Ours is a functional DO which makes a huge difference.
What will not normally kill you or make you very sick, will when you’re weak and stressed out.
A small cut, dental problems . . .
I recommend ‘The Survival Medicine Handbook’ authored by the Altons.
Many pet antibiotics will work with humans and are readily attainable without a prescription.
Tetanus. This needs to be included as it will become very common in a grid down (SHTF) scenario. We’re vaccinated (in the old accurate meaning of vaccines) for a reason. I remember being told as a kid that you could get it from stepping on a rusty nail. And we will be repurposing old rusted items until we can make or afford new. In nursing school we were taught that it’s a bacterial infection. Hygiene will suffer during SHTF and this will become a problem. It’s not called lockjaw or bonebreak for nothing.
I can see Tetanus being a risk in a post apocalyptic scenario, but it’s actually always been rare, even before the vaccine for it became mainstream. But it’s a good idea to keep iodine in stock.
The iron rust is not the cause of tetanus. The origin of this story (and this is true) comes from rusted barbed wire. If cattle scratches them on the wire the tetanus bacteria gets on it. But the bacteria cannot survive on clean or galvanized iron. They can survive longer in rusted iron, because if you view rust under a microscope it is full of holes and cavities where the bacteria can hide.
It’s not rusty items per se. The rusty nail danger was from when horses used to lose their rusty shoes a lot, which had been hammered on with nails.
Tetanus spores are cariied in the digestive tracts of many mammals. When they are pooped out, they can contaminate anything, also when the poop disontegrates into dust which is carried by the wind. Tetanus spores have been found on desktops on the top floors of skyscapers. Rose thorns have transmitted tetanus when unsterilized manure has been used as fertilizer.
The tetanus vaccine is very effective at preventing tetanus, and its protection lasts longer than they usually say. Probably at least forty years: all US servicemen were given the vaccine in the ‘40s, and even forty years later, none had ever gotten tetanus, whether or not they had gotten boosters.
But it is a terrible disease, often fatal even with quick, modern hospital treatment. My father as a boy saw a man die of it in his father’s doctor’s office in the thirties. Wound hygiene only prevents about half of tetanus cases. And about half are caused by inapparent injuries.
It’s a good idea to have children over two get the DT series (no pertussis). Then nothing for forty years unless they get a tetanus-prone injury over five years from the vaccine, just to be on the safe side.
Staph infection. Huge problem even in hospitals, where they’re very strict about hygiene. Huge bacterial genus causing skin infections, food poisoning, bacteremia, scalded skin syndrome, and a number of other problems. It can turn deadly. Usual treatment is antibiotics although some staphylococcus are antibiotic-resistant.
Yes. This is a huge problem now. It would just get worse.
I got a severe staph infection on my leg where I had fallen on a rug in my hospital room and scraped my leg. I was back at home, and soaked my leg in very hot water with apple cider vinegar three times a day. I was lucky. That successfully treated it without antibiotics.
Some of these were insect-borne. Even in (relatively) normal times like today, it is nice to know a non-toxic way to deal with hornets, flies, etc. Get a spray bottle, put some hand dishwashing soap in it, add several drops of peppermint oil, and fill with water. Works on ants, too.
Good supplies to have:
– rubbing alcohol
– hydrogen peroxide
– baking soda
– colloidal silver
– tincture of iodine
– bacitracin
– wormwood parasite blend (drops)
Learn how to make a simple ceramic water filter as well as boiling…there are amazing videos on YouTube…you can make a simple water filter using a food safe bucket (ideally with a spigot) and inside you hang a terracotta pot (hole corked with food safe material) and water will drip slowly through…practically free and anyone can make this.
Also: make a simple composting toilet. 5 gallon bucket, optional to purchase a toilet seat top for it (they are on Amazon), pee separately and save that for plant fertilizer (dilute 1:10 and pour on roots/soil), then poops get layered in the bucket with sawdust, dry leaves, ripped up paper/cardboard…any dry absorbent material…should be almost no smell if done right)…
Bury contents for a year or more and you will eventually have nice compost lol
Even better if you know how to produce/manufacture some of that stuff, like alcohol. You´re right about the composting toilet. Seen a video with some hippies from Colombia, and the method they use is exactly that.
Cool info JJ again thank you, may i say I have learnt more from this site over time than any other and I’m always looking forward to OP news every day! Thank you Daisy for this platform!
Water filtration is critical to prevent water borne diseases, especially if energy for boiling water is scarce in places. A simple gravity fed system is what we survived on in Africa for years. Two buckets on top of each other joined by ceramic candle filters, the dirty water is added into top bucket and drips through filters into bottom bucket that has a tap. Great for drinking and cooking water, if enough for washing hands etc. also.
Check out specifications of filters as there is a lot of “false advertisement” in this industry. Ceramic filters are great for a serious long term survivor kit and can be re-used several times by burning them clean and re-assembly with e.g. silicone seal. additions of activated carbon or even brass/copper alloys will help. Metallic silver is also a good steriliser for water to flow past and it will kill some bugs!
Last thing, its amazing how the WHO knows that more people are killed by water borne diseases and even smoke inhalation than the c@vid scamdemic but they do very little about this.. who voted for these guys that are now controlling our governments regarding pandemics?
Anyways, good work JJ, thank you!
Great advice and comments. Also think about diabetics who no longer have access to their insulin, and other people who must take a certain medicine/procedure such as dialysis to continue living……
Those people will probably be the first to go. And people who need anti-rejection meds from transplants. Nobody will have those meds. True, you can make insulin but you better have a lot of cows or livestock.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your article! Your time and hard work will benefit many. Blessings to you!
Great article. As a matter of fact, some diseases already eradicated like Malaria and yellow fever are coming back down here.
https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-020-00648-2
https://rstmh.org/news-blog/blog/the-spread-of-malaria-across-venezuela
Mind you back then our Republican government back then was quite efficient regarding sanitary conditions, and was decades ahead of other South American governments.
And dengue. It doesn’t usually kill people the first time, and gives permanent immunity to that serotype. But therr are four serotypes, and if you later get one of the others, it often manifests as hemorrhagic dengue, much more serious, and which often kills, because of an autoimmune reaction.
Dengue and yellow fever can be transmitted by the tiger mosquito. Malaria by a different mosquito. The tiger mosquito was brought to the US by cargo ships. The most common mosquito in mid-Missouri since 2010. But suddenly this year I haven’t seen any. Have they secretly sprayed to kill them, to prevent outbreaks of dengue in Missouri?
you are right about mosquitos, they will be a disaster waiting to happen, they are a pain in the arse now! and dont forget Lyme…ticks are moving to places there havent been any, and they are widespread now, same as mosquitos. and having Lyme is no picnic, after 4 yrs, still having repercussions from it! will never go away, had the antibiotic treatment etc. a “forever” disease too.
Enjoyed the article JJ. I learned a few things in the comments as well.
it looks like this will happen once we will all rapture ( hence you have to be a believer before you can rapture). Get ready folks
You obviously know nothing about nuclear reactors, Jeremiah. They will be the safest place to be during any of these events. They are prepared for any of these things to happen.
David Homer,
Our good friend and estate lawyer lived in the shadow of a cooling tower. No kidding, from her backyard, I could see the upper part of the superstructure. Now lives about 10miles from it.
Most of her neighbors work at the plant.
Her son now works at the plant.
They all have very real interest in nothing catastrophic happening of the Three Mile Island to Chernobyl kind. Even prior to any modern upgrades.
If anything, them, the immediate community surrounding the plant just might do everything they can to keep the power on, the water treatment plants running (to the degree they can).
I think you are right about the plant might be the most safe place, least someone drops a non-nuke bomb on it.
I would also expect they might be some of the first people to set up road blocks to prevent masses migrating to that glow on the horizon at night.
Just a thought.
If that Nuke Plant does not continue to have a steady supply of water for keeping the stored expended fuel cool, it will evaporate off all the water, then the old fuel will ignote on fire, releasing radiation in the air. Nuke plants are the one thing on this planet that you cannot just turn off and walk away.
WilliamC,
The plant is located on a lake.
There are really smart people there called nuclear engineers, who have to under go testing on a regular basis to maintain their jobs.
As I stated, they live in and around the plant. It is in their best interest NOT to just turn off the plant and walk away.
You dont think they have not thought about this? Some of them, just might be preppers.
Thats why they are ALL by rivers. They have that water flowing in and out naturally.
While filling water buckets for the livestock yesterday, this thought came to mind: How many non-preppers (average Americans) have some kind of non-dependent on the grid (i.e. requiring municipal water pressure) water filtration? (E.g. A Big Berkey, some kind of hollow fiber system.)
could you put email in your ‘share’ list?
i want o email to myself so i can send on to others
do not have access to a working printer or might copy and mail to friends
many thanks for wonderful article
byt he way i wanted to share to facebook but had to enter an url, whatever that is, but did not know it and saw no place to enter it unless facebook is blocking?
Even without a printer, Control P and print to PDF. That way you save the PDF to attach to emails.
Outstanding article, really gets the gears turning…minus the paranoia. This really seems to be the first order of business, to be kept front and center of your brain as you prepare. Thanks JJ!
The big motivator here is living a mile from Detrick, reading that hits home big time, a bit worried, honestly.
we have 3 nuclear stations within 50 miles of us!!! so if anything happens, we gonners anyway….
Also to be dangerous and fatal after DoomsDay:
1) Appendicitis
2) Compound fractures
3) Deep cut becoming infected
4) Tooth Abcess
5) Losing your Corrective Lenses
6) Tetanus
7) Multiple insect stings
8) Animal Bites (Dog or Cat)
9) Food Poisoning
10) Childbirth
Appendicitis is usually because of too much processed food. And was a very rare thing in the past.
Compound fractures can be set but someone has to have that knowledge and someone to care for the person(not many will have both.)
Deep cut infection is again the prevention of this kind of thing and then prevention of it getting infected. Knowledge here.
Tooth abscesses were generally pulled. There is a reason people had less teeth historically than now.
Get lasix now if you have vision that bad. We keep our old glasses when we get new ones and have had to wear them due to breakage and loss.
Tetanus isnt a huge problem usually. Keeping things cleaned up is a great start! People back then didnt have stuff to waste by leaving it all over so it was put away. Insect stings can be cooled and helped out with plantain. look it up. And maybe learm the difference between bees and wasps. People had knowledge that people stuck on their phones dont anymore. We need to learn it again.
Animal bites? Dont try to pet everything. Feral or aggressive dogs were shot. End of story.
Food poisoning, there is a reason for a lot of old recipes. People knew things had to be cooked to a certain temp. The Bible even gave food laws. It wasnt for control it was for safety reasons.
Childbirth is always risky. Some people died from it, but not all. Sounds harsh but there is only so much we can do. Do what you can and gove the rest to God.
My late husband had appendicitis after food poisoning. The appendix is like a “sock”. It filtered so many dead cells from the food poisoning that it pulled the appendix to the point it was about to burst. Emergency surgery was required. So if people do eat bad food, that can cause appendicitis. (He ate prime rib off of a buffet and that was the source of the contamination).
Losing your corrective lenses???? Huh???
1) In all my years, I have seen on instance of Appendicitis.
2) We will have to make do with what we have, and those who have previous pre-SHTF training in medical.
3) Keep it clean.
4) How often is that common?
5) Keep your eye glasses on you?
6) Not as common as claimed. Been over 10 years for me, and I work with soil on a regular basis.
7) What? Are you rolling in ant nests?
8) Dont play with obviously rabid animals. Use some common sense.
9) Know how to cook.
10) Hey, that is going to happen, more so in a post-SHTF world. Get a clue, keyboard general.
Tetanus is not common because nearly all children get the vaccine series, and the protection usually lasts at least forty years. And horses are no longer residents of every neighborhood. But many species of mammals continue to carry the spores in their digestive tracts, and in their poop. The danger exists if the spore is injected into the flesh by any means. It is anaerobic, developing only in the absence of oxygen. A boy in Oregon about five years ago got a cut on his forehead, which was cleaned by his parents. But he had not gotten the tetanus vaccine, developed tetanus, and was hospitalized for a month, fortinately recovering. A million dollar hospital bill. Most tetanus deaths in the US now are in older people whose vaccination protection has worn off. It will last at least forty years, but then it would be wise to get a booster. Although I’m not sure you could get a non-mRNA dT or T booster now.
There are tremendous healing benefits in pure essential oils which could help with many of these. For example thieves or a similar blend works wonders for tooth issues. First sign of a toothache issue I rub it on and the pain is gone the next day. Tea tree oil has amazing antibacterial properties. Frankincense is another great one with many benefits.
For those of us with knee and/or hip replacements, any infection in the body can, and probably will go directly to that prosthetic joint. That’s a huge concern for the millions who have them. In a SHTF scenario, very scary.
This list gets a lot shorter when you realize germ theory is crap…
How do you mean? Germs are real…????
I think they may be referring to the stats that many diseases didn’t exist until the development of modern antibacterial soap, cleaners, etc. In a food certification course I attended they actually talked about the harm of using traditional hand sanitizer because it kills most of the good bacteria you need. People who have gone crazy using hand sanitizer anytime they touch something are doing more harm than good.
I agree that antibacterial handsoap is not usually a good idea. It’s not that it kills good germs, but it kils almost all, leaving those which develop resistance, the way excess use of antibioticd does. So it becomes hard or impossible to kill them with antibiotics.
Suzanne Humphries wrote an excellent book about diseases mainly in the nineteenth century, Dissolving Illusions. At that time (not before), tens of thousands of children a year died of diphtheria. As many of smallpox. Thousands of pertussis, measles, and scarlet fever. That’s why vaccines were regarded as a godsend a hundred years ago: every family had experience of children dying of disease. They didn’t yet know about the dark side of vaccines. But at least we don’t have thousands of children a year now dying of these diseases and being crippled by polio.
Jeremiah – great article, really! I was just surprised at this statement. “There are around 10,000 cases (rabies) or more in the U.S. annually, and few deaths, but worldwide, more than 50,000 people die from it per year. It’s a very serious disease.” I knew this was not correct. A quick search shows this – “ Cases of human rabies: cases in the United States are rare, with only 1 to 3 cases reported annually. Twenty-five cases of human rabies have been reported in the United States in the past decade (2009-2018).” Perhaps there are 10K animals found to have rabies every year. Oh…2 other diseases that popped into my mind as killers post-SHTF…tuberculosis and diabetes. Diabetics without insulin will be in big trouble. TB kills many in other countries. Anyway, thank you. I thought this info would be helpful.
Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome. Several strains of the hantavirus can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. They are carried by different types of rodents. The most common carrier in North America is the deer mouse.
The most common way to catch it is cleaning up mouse poop. Medical personnel here where it is more common suggest spraying dry dusty poop areas with water or peroxide. Then clean up with damp rags or paper towels that will be burned later. Also wear a dust proof mask.
Several strains of the hantavirus can cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. They are carried by different types of rodents. The most common carrier in North America is the deer mouse.
Most commonly caught by inhalation of the dust particles. Often it kills very quickly. It seems like a simple cold that quickly turns to pneumonia and kills before a person realizes how sick they really are. Caught early it may be treatable. Dust masks and dampening the area to be cleaned while wearing medical gloves are the best suggested prevention. Burn or treat like medical waste- the damp cleaning rags or paper towels used in clean up. It’s serious enough to kill several each year here in the South Western states.
Of note, most of these are not diseases. Only hepatitis and plague are diseases. I’d add TB to your list.
Why not? I think they are all diseases.
I had neighbors who regularly went to Mexico to visit relatives. The boy was my son’s friend, he traveled with his grandmother. They both ate something bad and was really sick when they got back home. I gave the boy 5 drops of tea tree oil in an empty capsule. He took it and was well in two days. His grandma was still in misery and asked him if I would give her what I gave him. He ran down the alley with the capsule so it wouldn’t melt in his hand. She was better in two days. I learned this worked from a woman I know that went to Africa and had no other choice. She just put the drops on her tongue. But tea tree taste like shit so I opted for a capsule. Everything I’ve ever read was not to ingest tea tree oil but guess what? It works!
I would also add mosquito netting for beds to keep flying insects from biting you. Also screen netting for windows and doors. Pest control items- rat traps, bug spray ,roach killer,etc and keep in a storage container out of the kids/animal reach. Have 5 gallon buckets to store water to be filtered and for treated water to be used.
Whilst traveling through third world countries I have treated vomiting and diahorrea quickly and effectively with barberry bark decoction. Within 15 minutes of drinking a cupful of the decoction the V & D stopped from top to bottom. Sam Coffman in his book Herbal Medic says it was successfully used to treat cholera in india. I have used chinese wormwood as a tea over a week to kill giardia.
I’m not a dr so use this information as you see fit.
Garlic, onions, oregano & goldnseal as well as marshmallow root are all good natural antibiotics. Learn about herbs & how they can help you.
Learn how to forage or grow them now.
If you have a solar oven & it get up to 350 you can use it to sterilize things. It can also be used to make water safe to drink. Make sure you have a thermometer so you will know that the temperature was high enough to so the job.
An electric pressure cooker can also sterilized things as well.
If push comes to shove you can use a salad spinner as a centerfuse for blood & such.
Think outside the box while there still time.