DEFEND YOURSELF AND FAMILY

Based on what I am reading, and based on known precautions I have used and seen in Africa during epidemics, here is the best I can do to suggest a rational defense against infection by Bird Flu IF it mutates to be transmitted from human to human. Also, these precautions will help you avoid getting any flu that comes by in your area.

About 50% of those who get Bird Flu die of it. Bird Flu is a serious issue. Fear is not our chief motive, but fear is a tool to teach us to avoid trouble. A smart little kid reaches out to touch the hot stove, feels the heat, and pulls back in fear. A stupid little kid has no fear, touches the stove, learns about hot things, and is disfigured for life. Fear is not to consume us, but it is a tool God uses to send us in the right direction.

1. Immune boosting herbs and diet

Start at once-- don't wait to use these commodities to boost your immune system.

Immune-Boosting Herbs Help your body resist illness with these immune-boosting herbs. This information is not intended as medical advice.
Herb	Symptom	Function	Side Effect	Delivery
Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus)	Colds, viral infections	Boosts immunity, antiviral	None known	Capsules, tinctures, broths/soups
Codonopsis (Codonopsitis lanceolate)	Cough, congestion	Demulcent (sooths inflamed mucous membranes), expectorant	None known	Capsules, teas
Echinacea This is the herb of first choice (Echinacea purperea, E. angustifolia)	Colds, flu, cough, sore throat	Antiviral, antibacterial, boosts immunity, tonic	None known	Capsules, tinctures
Elder flower (Sambucus nigra)	Colds and flu, sore throat, sinus congestion	Boosts immunity, diaphoretic (promotes perspiration), tonic	None known (root is a strong purgative; should only be prescribed by expert herbalists)	Teas, tinctures
Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus)	Bronchitis, cough, congestion	Antibacterial, antiviral, decongestant	Allergic reactions	Steam inhalation; topically applied as oil
Garlic (Allium sativum)	Colds and flu	Boosts immunity, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, tonic	None known	Capsules, powder, eating as food is best, raw or cooked
Gingerroot (Zingiber officinale)	Colds and flu, sore throat, sinus congestion, nausea	Boosts immunity, respiratory system tonic, diaphoretic, stomach soother	None known	Powder or root made into teas, baths
Goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis)	Colds and flu, bacterial infections	Antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory	Strong GI astringent; use with caution in young children; endangered species	Tinctures, teas
Isatidis (Isatis tinctora)	Colds and flu	Antiviral, reduces swelling	None known	Capsules; works well with astragalus
Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra)	Sore throat	Reduces swelling expectorant, cough suppressant	Can cause sodium and water retention, loss of potassium	Tinctures, teas
Maitake mushroom (Grifola frondosa)	Colds and flu	Boosts immunity	None known	Powder; eat as food
Onion (Allium cepa)	Colds, flu	Boosts immunity, decongestant	None known	Powder; eating as food is best, raw or cooked
Osha root (Ligusticum porteri)	Colds and flu	Boosts immunity	None known; endangered species	Capsules
Peppermint (Mentha piperita)	Congestion, nausea associated with flu	Pain reliever, antispasmodic, stomach soother, antiviral, antibacterial, diaphoretic	None known	Teas
Sage (Salvia officinalis)	Colds and flu, fever	Stomach soother, reduces fever, antiseptic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory	None known	Teas
Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes)	Colds and flu	Boosts immunity, antiviral, antibacterial	None known	Powder, capsules, root extract, eat as food
Usnea (Usnea barbarata)	Colds and flu	Antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral	None known	Tinctures, often used with echinacea
White willow bark (Salix alba)	Colds and flu	Pain reliever, anti-inflammatory, reduces fever	None known	Teas, works well with cinchona bark
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)	Colds and flu	Diaphoretic, expectorant, reduces fever	May cause contractions in pregnant women	Teas

Add pineapple and garlic to the diet also. Eat healthy food, and get exercise in the open where people are not milling around. Get plenty of rest. If you do catch Bird Flu, you should be well rested so that you have some reserve. Do not be dieting during an epidemic. That can wait until later after the epidemic blows over.

We have recently learned that coconut, all forms, has some agents in it which boost the immune system. Coconut oil is available at WalMart for a reasonable price. It also has many health related qualities which have been lost due to bad publicity by the FDA and other agencies. This all started many years ago when the food oil producers of the USA set in motion false research reports to destroy the coconut oil industry. Do some research on the Web.

If you smoke or pollute your body in unnecessary ways, you are inhibiting your immune system from functioning properly. Why smoke and risk death? Also, stop eating food loaded with unnecessary chemicals.

2. Isolation of the family from infection potential

Stop wandering around. Around the world, around the state, and around the city where the mobs are.

Stop going to athletic events. No Disneyland and no traveling vacation. NO AIR TRAVEL. An airplane does NOT have filtration of air sufficient to remove viral organisms. I warned you of this long ago with regard to AIDS passed casually. Viruses are too small to be filtered, and you breath the air the others around you have breathed.

Stay away from hotels and motels. They may leave the lights on for you, but they reuse the blankets and bed spreads many times before washing. You are walking on, and sleeping in, the germ colony of all the visitors before you.

As regards birds (if human to human transmission never happens), the following applies:

-- Stop feeding wild birds until the epidemic passes over. That includes humming bird feeders.

-- Do not raise domestic chickens and other poultry. Buy at the store.
The health factor as to natural issues is secondary to Bird Fly.

-- Do not hunt wild birds.

-- Cook all poultry well done. Handle it with rubber gloves in the kitchen preparation.

-- If you have a bird die in your yard, you should notify the health department. On the other hand, you could have your property condemned also, so you may want to pour gasoline on the bird and burn it. Be very cautious using gasoline in the open. Wear a face mask. If the epidemic becomes serious, the authorities may not even be able to come around for days. Do it yourself may be better. Another option with a dead bird would be to cover it with lime and then dirt. Keep pets and carion eating birds and animals away from it.

Take vacations or outings to places outdoors and where you are alone as much as possible. Go fishing.

Shop in 24 hours stores for groceries, like SuperWalMart, and shop at about 3 AM. Mind your own business, and use the self checking out machine if possible. I like to have casual visits with people at WalMart and the grocery store, but during epidemics, this social practice just makes for risk-- to them and to you.

Buy face masks that cover the nose and mouth at local drug stores. Get the kind used by nurses if possible. Wear the mask whenever you are in public. It may look weird, but so does a funeral procession.

Wash everything you bring home, or spray or wipe it down with a cloth heavily dampened with water based Lysol (in the UK and Commonwealth, Detol). Shakley Basic G is what we use.

Spray your shoes with aerosol Lysol when entering the home. Have a family member spray you down at the entry of the home, or outside, when returning from the market place where you may have been seated in public seating.

Stop eating out. This is a very high risk practice. Many eating establishments will be slow to let employees go who show signs of sickness because they will have to find a replacement.

We are mixing up Bird Fly, bird to human, and human to human, transmission here because the US Center of Disease Control and the Surgeon General lied and lied about AIDS. We have to anticipate that they will not tell the truth about Bird Flu until forced to. This is because once Bird Flu goes human to human, the food industry in the USA will collapse as people abandon eating out. The economy is more important to the Federal Government than your survival. Deal with it, or die.

If you enter an establishment where an employee is showing symptoms of flu of any kind, leave at once and make other arrangements. Even if it is not Bird Flu, are you ready to give up a whole week while laying in bed for a Big Mac?

Food City in Tennessee now has hand wipes at the door for you to clean the handle on the shopping cart (trolley). Carry your own and clean the handle for sure.

When the Post Office delivery person leaves you mail, wear latex gloves to handle it until you can spray it lightly with Lysol. Try not to spray letters which may contain a check you need. It can ruin it. You may want to leave the letter laying in the sun or a 140 degree oven for a couple hours before opening it. Beware of burning it up! When UPS delivers anything, spray the box with Lysol before opening it, and do not carry it leaning against you into the house.

Order as much as possible from the Internet. These products have not been nearly as exposed to people as products in open stores.

You may want to make a disrobing area in the garage or, in the case of severe epidemic in your area, right outdoors. Take off all outer garments and drop them into a plastic bag with a shot of Lysol. Do this OUTSIDE the living area so that you can enter the home without contaminating it. If you ordinarily shower at the beginning of the day, move your shower time to right after coming home from work or the market place. Ideally, build a shower outside the home for those working with the public.

Stop attending church services and ball games when the epidemic is near your area. Stop all attendance at public events. Your dedicated good godly friends can get sick just as easily as the wicked sinners down town. If you pastor does not ask people to stay away when they are sick, you need another church to attend. The jerk is willing to let you die so he can pass the offering plate at all costs.

Before the epidemic is near your area, the following apply-- Do not send you children to a church which takes no precautions. At church, greet verbally, and avoid physical touching and hand shaking. Church dinners and "pot lucks" should not be held during an epidemic. This applies even if no one is sick. What social gatherings the church has should be closed to the church family only with no invitations to new comers to attend. Rallies and events which "pack the house" are irresponsible of the leaders during an epidemic.

Do keep in contact with Christian friends by phone, especially if they are sick. They need comfort, and you need to keep touch with the people you love. Don't get to be a total recluse so badly that the phone is not used. Have a Bible study over the phone with a friend.

If possible, the bread winner should have an automobile used only for going to work and shopping. The same person should do all the shopping. Wives should stay home and decontaminate and be the home defender. Husbands should go shopping. The family must not use the car used to go to work and shopping. This way, the one taking the most risk can disinfect the car in a manner which he feels will best protect the family and reduce risk.

Choose ONE market to shop, and one area to shop, and do not wander to many buying locations seeking bargains. This practice of multiple shopping destinations is the first line of defense used all over the world to contain epidemics. I trust you can figure out why.

If someone thinks you are stupid and mocks at you, just keep to your defensive protocols. You may read their obituary later.

Public restrooms are dangerous. Try to plan trips to work and shop so that you can get home before you need to use the restroom. Otherwise, clean off everything with portable Lysol spray in small bottles. Also, do not wash your hands in such facilities. Carry a small bottle of alcohol gel, and squirt your hands and rub it in after leaving a restroom. At night, men can stop on the roadside and relieve themselves in some areas. This is very acceptable with little kids, and you should do it.

Never send a small child into a public restroom alone. He will handle all sorts of things. When using a public restroom, use a paper towel to open the door, and throw the paper towel on the floor instead of trying to get it past the wing wang lid of the trash can.

As you enter a store, a gathering, church service, or the work place pause and discreetly look around to see if someone is wheezing or dry coughing. Find something to make you look distracted as you reconnoiter. If you see a check out person in a store who seems sick, or if someone in a gathering is clearly in trouble, either move to the opposite part of the room, or turn and walk out. For human to human Bird Flu, leave at once. Always wear a mask when the epidemic is in your area. If the leaders of a gathering mock you or complain about the mask, leave. They are jerks.

3. Stocking up, BEFORE the rush, on supplies

Surgical and allergy preventing masks are very important. You have seen them in the news in the Orient. Also, when shopping and handing money during a shopping trip, you should have latex or rubber gloves.

An air purifier is in order, but make sure it cleans down to one micron. Use it in the home night and day.

Try to make one shopping trip for two weeks or more. Shop in the largest stores, with high ceilings, so that there is a high ratio of air space to people present. WalMart is very good. Other super markets have lower ceilings as a rule. Also, shop after midnight in all night grocery stores. Again, shop in the same stores-- Don't visit many stores.

If a town up the road has no reported Bird Flu, or any other flu, you may want to shop there instead of nearby. Price is not the top priority during an epidemic. Also, head for the suburbs. City centers concentrate population, and so they also breed disease faster.

Avoid subways and city buses if possible. If you live in a city, a visit to a local small store would be much safer than a subway ride to WalMart. Subways and buses are deadly incubators of disease, and the sleaze of the city hang out there on cold nights.

Buy ahead on auto needs such as oil and parts you intend to replace.

If you get cash in change, spray it after you get home with Lysol.

Shop the Internet if possible. Almost all groceries and home needs can be ordered on the Web these days.

Don't insist on all the commodities you usually use. Keep it simple so that you don't need to shop as long and as often to live a normal life.

Never order carry in delivered food like pizzas. Never buy cooked food to eat on the run or at home. Carry all your own snacks and bottled water in your car, or go without while moving in public. An empty stomach is a lot less painful that vomiting your guts out.

4. Movement, Employment, School, and the Market Place

If you can arrange to do your vocational duties when people are not in their offices or where you do your tasks, do so now and set the pattern for the future. As Bird Flu nears your community, or the community where you work, ask to take vacation you may have coming. Call in sick. Is it OK to lie? Yes, if it is life and death, and if employers are carelessly forcing people to work who are infected. No employer has the right to force his people to get sick and possibly die just so he can keep the cash flow up.

This flu should pass through in 4 to 6 months, so you will not have to innovate forever.

If you are in a public work situation, and Bird Flu goes human to human in transmission, take a leave of absence, and sell things on eBay. If you have opportunity to stock up on collectibles to sell on eBay, do so for sure. A trip to the Post Office to mail parcels to bidders once a week is a lot less dangerous than dealing with the public forty hours a week. Get a PayPal account so that you do not have to receive checks in the mail.

If you do tech work in homes of businesses, or plumbing or other in-home service, let the people know before you go that you will walk right back out the door if someone there is sick. Ask them to wear masks while you are there, and you wear one also. If you are in law enforcement and you think you will look silly with a mask on, you may want to stop by the mortuary and choose a coffin ahead of time to save your family that trauma.

If you learn that Bird Flu is in your kids' school, you must take your children home at once. In fact, it would be very much advised to take your kids out of public or church school before the flu arrives in your community. Let the authorities know what you are doing, and ask for books and homework. Do a few months of home schooling. Report the school to the health department if the school is slow responding to flu cases. School officials are wimps about epidemics. They wait for several children to be seriously sick, and then they send the kids home. Levels of discussion and palaver have to take place in the school setting before someone finally makes a decision. You may have to simply remove the child yourself. DO NOT TRUST OTHER PEOPLE TO PROTECT YOUR FAMILY.

5. When infection is suspected

Do not hesitate to make an appointment to see the doctor. When you go to the doctor's office, if you are clearly having flu symptoms, have a friend or family member register for you and wait outside. If you enter the waiting area, you could infect people. Also, PLEASE wear a mask to protect others. A sneeze or heavy cough travels across a room and back as many as eight times.

A family member who is sick should stay in a room of their own if possible. They should have their own towel and wash and potty area if possible. If human to human transmission is in your area, rent a Porta Potty and place it so the sick family members can have their own arrangements. Anyone in the home who has a weak immune system, or older people with respiratory problems, may need to be moved to live with someone else for a while. When attending a sick person, gown up, cover the head, use goggles, and a face mask and gloves. This has been found with other viral infections to be almost 100% effective in health care facilities.

Feed sick people on paper plates and throw away cups and plastic utensils. Discard them away from the rest of the family in sealed plastic bags. Cavalier hicks who think it is cute to share tooth brushes and other toiletries will ALL pass flu around to each other.

If you are sick, treat this like a very serious cold or the flu. Stay in bed, drink fluids and fruit juice, eat soups and food which does not irritate the throat. If you have diarrhea, drink plenty of water to replace fluids. I am not reading about vomiting, but if this is present, drink more fluids. A dilute solution of Gator Aid might be in order since electrolytes may be lost. Other than this, call your doctor and ask what is needed for the patient. Try to deal with coughs with whatever soothing product works and with cough suppressants. Eucalyptus in a handkerchief is very helpful to clear the airways.

If you are alone and you develop symptoms, call a friend at once so someone knows to check by phone. Keep a cell phone near your bed or carry it with you. Your friend should call 911 if you are in deep trouble, and you should be willing to get to an Emergency room. Bird Flu almost always requires hospitalization at some point.

If breathing becomes labored, pneumonia may well be setting in. Go at once to the hospital emergency room for attention, for a respirator may be needed for a period of time. This is especially true with older adults and children with weak immune systems.

AIDS victims will need to go to the hospital as soon as the symptoms of Bird Flu are evident, for they lack a complete immune system.

6. Eternity-- Are you ready?

Are you ready to die? Most people are not, and it is quite normal to NOT want to die. The problem with epidemics is that death comes closer and closer. The time to prepare to die is the same as the time to prepare to avoid the epidemic-- NOW! Both preparations are critical. If God has chosen for you to survive the epidemic, it may very well be because he has made you wise enough to avoid the epidemic. Fools will not prepare. God has also provided for your death.

Death comes sooner or later, and God, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, has provided for you to die without fear. By receiving the free gift of his salvation, you become immune to eternal damnation, and you receive the promise of eternal life with Jesus Christ. Now, if you would like to get a life killing disease, do nothing to protect yourself. If you would like to go to hell and be eternally separated from God, do nothing about the Lord Jesus Christ. You will get your wish.

YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN

SEND MAIL if you need to talk about your eternal destiny.

7. Legal and financial considerations

Will your family be able to continue if you or someone else in the family die? Will your estate be thrown into probate? You should make arrangements for all names to be on all accounts and on titles to real estate.

You should make arrangements to name, in a will or trust, who will be receiving your children if both parents die. If not, your children will become wards of the court, and any atheist or sodomite could be assigned to your children.

You should seek to be either 100% in debt or 100% out of debt. If you are half and half, the courts will take one half to pay off the other when you go bankrupt. I was being quite facetious, for it is much wiser to be 100% out of debt.

8. Law and Order

Harry Truman said, "When you see ten troubles coming down the road, just wait a while, and nine of them will go into the ditch."

The potential for lawlessness during pandemics is very high. People become desperate, and they do things they ordinarily would not do in order to survive. You should look down the road as a family, and discern what lawlessness may come your way. You should take basic precautions for security of your home, and you should have in place weapons for self-defense. Then, pray that God will send the troubles you see coming into the ditch. Do not become panicked by the urgent and the unknown. Just keep your powder dry.

If the health department demands that you participate in a quarantine arrangement, do as they tell you. It is not fair for you to sneak around breaking the health principles. What makes you think you have a right to infect people because you think you have some civil right to wander around sick? If the US Government gets a law passed which requires each citizen to be vaccinated, think hard. If you refuse, you may not be given the best health care if you get sick. If you have kids and do not get them vaccinated, they may be taken away from you. Which fate is worse? I would suggest though that you wait until others have gotten vaccinated for a few weeks to see how many have a reaction or get the disease. A new type of vaccination is being invented which will trigger an antibody response without using biological viral material. It may be safer soon.

If a sick person in your neighborhood or work place is breaking quarantine, report them to the law enforcement people responsible for this sort of infraction. If you have no success in this, go home. If such people come around your home, or sick children try to entice your kids to play with them, you must do whatever necessary to prevent these lawless factions from endangering you.

If you see a sick person in the check out line, or working in a public area, report them to the health officials and the police.

9. After the crisis is over

Get back to normal as soon as you feel the epidemic is over. Continue to be aware that a second wave of disease could arrive in your area, but do not continue to live with all these precautions. The common cold can be avoided by using these precautions, but these protocols could make a real recluse of you if you maintain them indefinitely.