What Infections Do Preppers Get? Urinary Tract Infection - Lessons of WWII

The Preppers of WWII & The Infections That Almost Killed Them

We've been looking back to those brave souls recently. Those boys and girls and parents of all ages; huddled together and trembling in their dark and musty bomb shelters of WWII. What we've learned is illuminating. Paid for in the currencies of fear and blood, their experiences shouldn't be forgotten. They shouldn't go to waste. And they don't have to.

These original preppers, guilty only of getting caught in the worst place at the worst time, have done us a solid by recording their ordeals.  Their experiences give us critical insights into what we're likely to encounter when the next monster incarnates. In this and future posts we'll be discussing the map they left behind.  We'll be counting down and learning how to deal with the top five illnesses we as preppers can expect to get.  As you've probably guessed by now, they are the infections that often made the lives of those original preppers so miserable. Let's begin with #5:

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Men rarely get urinary tract infections, so many of us don't appreciate how incapacitating they can be. Cleanliness can be a nightmare proposition during catastrophes. Add to that the short urethra God issued with the female bladder, and you have the first dark comedy of errors. A cruel joke of nature predisposing girls and ladies to painful urinary infections.

Treating UTIs with cranberry juice

Bladder infections are almost always caused by bacteria. Microscopic invaders that make their way into the bladder, where they quickly set up housekeeping. Painful pelvic contractions, frequent urination, and the uncontrollable urge to suddenly go soon follow. These symptoms are sometimes accompanied by an intermittent low-grade fever. For the prepper this can be disastrous. It can cause difficulties with walking, thus making it impossible for the person to travel to their bug-out-location.

Normally, these infections occur only rarely. In daily life we have the ability to urinate as frequently as we'd like. In concert with adequate hydration, this tends to wash any bacteria that may have made it into our bladder, right back out. This wasn't the case with those stuck in the shelters of subterranean London. Without adequate water or bathroom facilities, they quickly became dehydrated, and were forced to hold their urine for extended periods of time. Together, the combination almost guaranteed someone was going to get sick. Knowing this helps you, as a modern-day prepper, anticipate the problem and implement prevention measures.

Natural Treatments for UTIs - Baking Soda

As the best treatment is prevention, stocking plenty of water in your shelter and refraining from holding your bladder is all that's needed. Simple steps for sure, but in concert they mitigate the predisposing factors and inherent difficulties with hygiene. Sometimes though, for various reasons, this isn't possible. So preppers must be comfortable diagnosing and treating UTIs. Foul smelling, cloudy, or burning urine, combined with the physical symptoms already discussed, are all that is generally needed to diagnose the problem. Treatment should begin as soon as possible. Otherwise the infection might spread into the kidneys.

How To Check For A Kidney Infection

You'd expect this to be the case if the person develops a fever that's constant or high-grade. Often the person will complain of back pain. At that point you'll want to check to see if the infection has extended to their kidneys. This is easily done by lightly tapping on the person's back directly over their lower rib cage. If they jump and recoil with sharp pain, you have the diagnosis. This finding is called costovertebral angle (CVA) tenderness, and the sign strongly suggests the persons kidneys are inflamed.

Fish antibiotics equivalent to Bactrim DS (Sulfa), or Ciprofloxin (Cipro), will generally cure the infection. If you don't get a response to treatment within the first three days, switch to another antibiotic. The bacteria causing these infections are known to have developed drug resistance to several classes of antibiotics. So if one doesn't work, you should switch to another. In the event antibiotics aren't available, force fluids to flush the infection, improve the persons nutrition, and limit activity as much as possible.

Coming up:  Bronchitis can quickly turn into pneumonia, and that's potentially fatal. We'll discuss this in our next post!

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