http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/09/just-before-the-hajj-two-deaths-from-sars-like-virus/ Keeping You Current Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:49:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/09/just-before-the-hajj-two-deaths-from-sars-like-virus/comment-page-1/#comment-996 Rudy Haugeneder, Canada Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:22:16 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/?p=4644#comment-996 Once the next Spanish Flu type pandemic sweeps the planet, there won't be enough doctors and hospitals to treat the very sick and dying. Medical professionals and workers are likely to be among the worst hit and unable to ply their skills, even if they dared to mix with the desperately ill with a lethal illness that, in essence, spreads through the air we all breathe. It's been a century since the last pandemic that wiped out huge swathes of people, and the next one, according to the experts, is long overdue. Worse yet, many of the medicines developed since the last pandemic no longer work. When the pandemic eventually hits, probably sooner than later, don't be surprised if the very sick persons next to you in the emergency ward of a hospital are members of Congress, Wall Street gurus, Mr. Romney, his family, and their physicians -- only a fraction of which, including ourselves, will survive. Bottom line is that whether health service charges are paid privately or out of the public purse during the next big pandemic, there will be few medical wizards, if any, to help you and me survive, never mind them submitting a bill. Once the next Spanish Flu type pandemic sweeps the planet, there won’t be enough doctors and hospitals to treat the very sick and dying. Medical professionals and workers are likely to be among the worst hit and unable to ply their skills, even if they dared to mix with the desperately ill with a lethal illness that, in essence, spreads through the air we all breathe.
It’s been a century since the last pandemic that wiped out huge swathes of people, and the next one, according to the experts, is long overdue. Worse yet, many of the medicines developed since the last pandemic no longer work.
When the pandemic eventually hits, probably sooner than later, don’t be surprised if the very sick persons next to you in the emergency ward of a hospital are members of Congress, Wall Street gurus, Mr. Romney, his family, and their physicians — only a fraction of which, including ourselves, will survive.
Bottom line is that whether health service charges are paid privately or out of the public purse during the next big pandemic, there will be few medical wizards, if any, to help you and me survive, never mind them submitting a bill.

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