Tag: antibiotics

Welcome to the North, where we will outlive you because… Winter.

Posted on by tavia.

Winter in The North, in case you come from a place where all the seasons aren’t properly represented, is about five months of cold and dark. Temperatures below freezing are not uncommon. Snow covering all surfaces for weeks at a time is likely.

Because winter mostly sucks and the most common coping mechanism is to hide from it. As soon as the first weather report of the winter season comes in, everyone rushes to the supermarket to buy canned and other non-perishable goods. Stocking up on other supplies makes sense too. It’s going to be cold and crappy out for a while after the first storm so no one wants to have to leave the house for toilet paper or dog food. Continue reading “Welcome to the North, where we will outlive you because… Winter.”

Supertuberculosis

Posted on by char

Sadly, this isn’t a post about crime-fighting tuberculosis (even though that would be cool). Ann emailed us this link last week about totally drug-resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB).

There have been at least 12 patients who have contracted TDR-TB in India, though this first popped up in Iran in 2009. (Clearly I read the wrong magazines. That was, what, three years ago? Why are we just hearing about this now?!)

The drug-defeatable (yeah, that’s a word now) kind of TB is already a hard disease to kill, and is one of the biggest killers out there (well, out of the tiny, need-to-be-seen-with-a-microscope brand of killers, anyway). It’s also hard to treat. According to the article,

“At the best of times, TB treatment is difficult, requiring at least 6 months of pill combinations that have unpleasant side effects and must be taken long after the patient begins to feel well.”

Continue reading “Supertuberculosis”

Post-apocalyptic Healthcare

Posted on by char

Last week, my three year old daughter had some awesome and fun medical adventures that required a trip to emergency and a few trips to the doctor’s office.

While I was taking my daughter back and forth from the ER to the doctor’s office (and back to the doctor’s office), I thought about what healthcare would be like post apocalypse. My daughter needed staples to close up a nasty gash on her head and antibiotics to combat an infection. Today, we can get that kind of treatment. But what about during the chaotic days immediately after the apocalypse?

There will probably be first aid and/or emergency stations, at least in the beginning. I’m sure that, regardless of what actually happens, people will be injured and will die during the apocalypse. I’d like to think that there will be places those people can go to get help.

Continue reading “Post-apocalyptic Healthcare”