# Is the PLAGUE Returning?



## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

Bubonic Plague Outbreak Feared in Central Asia 
http://www.weather.com/health/bubonic-plague-outbreak-feared-central-asia-20130828


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

The bubonic plague never left. It is still endemic to several areas of the world including the southwest us. Bubonic plague we can treat. Small pox, super flu's and hemorrhagic fevers scare the bejesus out of me.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

CrackbottomLouis is right. Half the prairie dogs in the USA have the plague.


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## ras1219como (Jan 15, 2013)

I actually saw something (may have been here) awhile back about someone in Southern California that had contracted the plague. I think the article said there are a couple cases a year in the US. All they need is a good dose of meds and it gets cleared up but I still wouldn't want it running rampant.


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## Geek999 (Jul 9, 2013)

At the moment bubonic plague is treatable with modern medicine, which obviously was not the case in the Middle Ages. However, the possibility of a pandemic of some antibiotic resistant disease is on the list of things to worry about.


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## FrankW (Mar 10, 2012)

Like CBL said it's endemic in many parts of the world.

It's just that the condtions for a major epidemic are not there anymore as large high density populations of people dont live in routine close proximity to rats anymore like we had in the middle age cities (plus its treatable now)


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

*Bubonic plague has always been here*

Today we have antibiotics which can be used to treat the plague, something that was missing during the middle ages.

Is it possible for us to make antibiotics?

Also, fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, kambucha, yogurt and kefir are supposed to be good for our guts (especially for anyone who has taken antibiotics) and as a way to keep some diseases at bay. Remember the idea that people who consumed kimchi would be resistant to the bird flu? There was a thought that sauerkraut would be equally as effective in providing resistance. I don't really think there is a correlation between the plague and resistance to the flu, but I just wonder about I am just wondering about ways for us to be resistant to some diseases.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/18/166156/-Can-Kimchi-and-Sauerkraut-cure-bird-flu#


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Those fermented foods really have nothing to do with preventing disease in and of themselves, however they do support and add beneficial bacteria to your gut where most of your resistance to disease resides. That's why most naturalpathic doctors advocate maintaining a healthy digestive tract.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

weedygarden said:


> Today we have antibiotics which can be used to treat the plague, something that was missing during the middle ages.
> 
> Is it possible for us to make antibiotics?
> 
> ...


Its possible to make penicillin but if I'm not mistaken bubonic plague takes something heftier than that to treat nowadays. Actually, I think most bacteria have become resistant to penicillin except syphylis and gonnorhea. I would have no clue how to make a stronger antibiotic. Also, I believe they have different antibiotics for different bacteria (gram negative and gram positive) and you would have to sample, stain and check the cell wall of the bacteria under a microscope to know what antibiotic to use. This is actually not hard to do with a little equipment and know how. If you can tell the disease by experience and symptoms I guess you could correctly diagnose without a test. I couldn't unless it was blatantly obvious. The best answer is a healthy lifestyle and resulting strong immune system combined with knowledge of the diseases endemic to your are with a good idea of vector control (how the disease is carried and spread and how to control that ex. Killing prairie dogs infected with plague and burning I guess). I know there are some herbs and oils of that are good anti bacterial agents. Oil of oregano comes to mind. This something I would like to know more about and my next area of study after nursing school.

Maybe we should have a discussion about diseases endemic to everyone's individual area, vector control ideas, and possible post shtf treatment ideas. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

We have Dengue fever here now.
Multiculturalism will be the death of us all.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Dengue fever is endemic to over 100 countries. There is no vaccine although some smart folks are working on it. It is spread by mosquitoes so having a plan to kill mosquito populations will limit the spread. If someone you know comes down with this keeping them well hydrated is key. If I remember right symptoms are severe joint pain and a rash like measles or chicken pox. The joint pain is so bad the nickname for this disease is break bone fever. Note to self......add more bug spray to preps . This disease rarely occurs in US and is mostly a tropical disease but still sounds awful enough to warrant more bugs pray on the off chance.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

The biggest tool we have to deal with something like the plague isn't going to be lost immediately if TSHTF, it is GERM THEORY. If only people in the middle ages had a better understanding of how these things spread millions of people would not have gotten infected in the first place. Some of the things they did worked, without them knowing exactly why, but others helped spread the disease.

Penicillin actually still works excellent for many things today, there was a big push to cut back on it's use and subsequently some of the resistance that had begun has faded. Most drug resistance in bacteria does not last long if the drug is not present. Something like Penicillin G can be used to treat meningitis, gonorrhea, pneumonia, syphilis, gangrene, and hoof rot though of course no treatment is ever a sure thing and there are often other choices.

Sulfa drugs are "easier" to make but none of these are easy without supply of chemicals.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/pandemics/2012/12/dengue_fever_in_united_states_breakbone_fever_outbreaks_florida_texas_and.html


> In the autumn of 1885, people in Austin, Texas, began to feel sick. One after another, they developed a chill and then a soaring fever. They vomited and broke out in rashes. Their most distinctive symptom was agonizing pain behind their eyes and in the bones of their arms and legs. And when the fever subsided, lack of appetite and deep exhaustion left them unable to work for weeks or months.
> 
> Austin had been founded only 46 years before, and it was still small, with just 22,000 people. By the time the epidemic was over, 16,000 of them had fallen ill. A local doctor who described the outbreak in the Journal of the American Medical Association the following year added: "I am informed that other cities ... had as many cases in proportion to the population as did Austin."
> 
> The illness that took out Texas that fall had already devastated Charleston, S.C., in 1828 and Savannah, Ga., in 1850, and it would go on to sicken half the population of Galveston, Texas, in 1897; one-quarter of Monroe, La., in 1922; and one out of every nine people in Miami in 1934. It was dengue-a mosquito-borne virus popularly known as "breakbone fever" for the pain it caused. From the 1820s to the 1940s, it caused recurring epidemics roughly every 10 years.


Multiculturalism has nothing to do with Dengue fever, or at least it shouldn't. With the amount of travel people do these days these things will find a way in if conditions are right for them to become endemic. Malaria used to be a major problem in Europe until conditions changed, it was also an issue in Florida IIRC.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

Magus is right, our borders are open, traveling is the best disease carrier we have now days, and yes we have vaccines but I don`t want to see an epidemic of anything coming our way, is painful in human cost, it will hurts the economy, and a populace panic is not a pretty thing.
My opinion .


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

CrackbottomLouis said:


> Maybe we should have a discussion about diseases endemic to everyone's individual area, vector control ideas, and possible post shtf treatment ideas. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts.


Start the thread in the appropriate place and I'll jump all over that. I need to learn more about these topics, and I bet there are many folks on here who are qualified to speak on them.


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## Boomy (Mar 17, 2012)

Magus said:


> We have Dengue fever here now.
> Multiculturalism will be the death of us all.


Dengue sucks! I had it about 18yrs ago when I lived on the border.


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## CrackbottomLouis (May 20, 2012)

Ezmerelda said:


> Start the thread in the appropriate place and I'll jump all over that. I need to learn more about these topics, and I bet there are many folks on here who are qualified to speak on them.


Tried that awhile ago and got a lot of info on rat traps. While helpful it wasn't exactly what I was going for


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