This year ’s flu irruption has been a particularly nasty one , killing up to4,000 people a weekin the US alone . And while the unspoiled news is we appear to have reachedpeak flufor this season , it does n’t think of we should n’t start preparing for the next one .
On Monday , the Daily Mailpublished an clause by Jonathan Quick , a medical doctor and chair of the Global Health Council , warning the world risks a viral pandemic even more crushing than the 1918 Spanish Flu , which killed50 million hoi polloi in less than two year .
“ The large one is coming : a world-wide virus pandemic that could down 33 million dupe in its first 200 day , ” Quick wrote .
Within two years , more than 300 million people could cash in one’s chips as a direct result – or roughly 4 percent ofthe world ’s current population . The survivors will have to cope with a disrupted food and medicament supplying , looting , starvation , and the threat of a collapsed global thriftiness .
“ It ’s a calamity pic nightmare , ” he added . “ Yet it is waiting to fare reliable , thanks to flu — the most diabolical , hardest - to - control and fastest - spreading possible viral sea wolf known to humankind . ”
According to Quick , the pathogen that poses the biggest scourge is a deadly genetic mutation of the flu computer virus . If the status are right , this could happen as soon as tomorrow .
Every now and them , something like thisdoeshappen . ThinkH1N1 swine fluandH5N1 avian flu , aka bird grippe . luckily , these two diseases have not made the jump to full - blown pandemic ( yet ) . However , that does n’t signify they wo n’t in the future .
This sounds depressing but now is not the time to come down into a nether region of desperation . There are thing we can do to protect ourselves , says Quick .
The first is to " agitate factory farming " .
" We have inadvertently developed a hefty way of help influenza to kill us , 100 year on [ from the Spanish Flu ] , " he indite . " This is our addiction to cheap chicken and pork barrel — and the factory farm industry that supplies it . ”
Thousands of animals jammed together in poor conditions is the perfect environs for a potentially deadly flu computer virus to evolve . The good news is that we can select not to eat meat and dairy – or eat them less often , make certain it is organic , and void intellectual nourishment places that source from manufactory farm .
We can also follow recommend hygienics linguistic rule , which includes wash hands , using tissues , and staying at home base if you do light ill to prevent exposing others to the computer virus .
The most important method of prevention , however , is vaccination . " As a Dr. , I know that nothing can protect the great unwashed against illness as effectively as a vaccinum … We need a vaccinum that attacks something fundamental in the virus that does not switch , so it is effective against all strains of influenza . ”
