Will Tuberculosis be the next great pandemic?
If so, antibiotic resistance will be the reason for it. We now have drug resistant, multi-drug resistant, extremely multi-drug resistant, and totally drug resistant tuberculosis strains. Tuberculosis, also known as consumption or "The White Plague", kills over 500,000 people each year, yet gets little to no media coverage.
Tuberculosis is an infection caused by primarily by a bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. When a person becomes sick, the illness caused by the mycobacterium is called tuberculosis, also called TB.  The bacteria settles deep into the lungs where macrophages typically consume the bacteria and the person does not become ill.  However, in 10% of people, this immune response is insufficient. Of these 10%, 5% will become sick right away with an active infection, while the other 5% have what is known as latent tuberculosis. Latent TB is an infection that just sits, not growing or progressing or causing symptoms until some future time. This could be weeks later, months later, or even years later.

How to Prepare for Tuberculosis Pandemic
In today's episode, I disuss how to recognize tuberculosis when there is no diagnostic testing available, such as would be the case post-SHTF. Normally, this is done by an x-ray, but an understanding of the symptoms will have to suffice for most people.  Something that I didn't get to mention during the podcast due to time contraints was the use of percussion to determine the presence of tubercles in the lungs. This is an older practice that x-ray technology rendered passé. However, during the 1800's, physicians could tap on a person's chest, and detect the existence, size, and placement of tubercles with great accuracy just by the hollow or dull sounds produced. This is just like tapping on a wall looking for a stud.
Other points discussed are setting up a sick room, what are the most important considerations in reducing the spread of tuberculosis, and what role herbs can play in caring for Tuberculosis sufferers when antibiotic drugs no longer work or are not available. Besides these points, always remember to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching the face (tougher than you think!), not to share food/drink, and have the sick person cover their mouth when coughing. Good hygiene goes a very long way to stoping the spread of tuberculosis whether or not it is resistant to antibiotic drugs.
Here is the video I referenced in today's podcast.

Herbal Resources for Tuberculosis when No Help Is Available
Cryptolepis buchanani, which I mentioned in the podcast, is a widely used herb in the Ayruvedic tradition, and a systemic antibiotic herb suggested in Buhner's book, Herbal Antibiotics. Unfortunately, there are no sources for seeds or seedlings here in the US. It is available as a dried herb from Raksa Thai Herbs on eBay and as a tincture from Woodland Essence. It is also available on Amazon in both capsules and as a tincture. For more information on cryptolepis and the tubercolisis protocol mentioned in this episode, please read Herbal Antibiotics. This is something I consider required reading for herbalists and preppers.
Three good sources for the rest of the herbs mentioned in this episode, and for many of the less common medicinal herbs are Horizon Herbs, Sand Mountain Herbs, and Richters Herbs.  Be sure to listen to next week's episode on medicinal herb gardening. This is a very important and overlooked topic in prepping. Yet, medicinal herb garden planning is an essential part of preparing for pandemics with the potential to last for years, such as Totally Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis.
For more information on how to make tinctures and other herbal skills for emergency preparedness, be sure to check out my soon-to-be-released book, Prepper's Natural Medicine. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon!