Antibiotic will NOT work against any influenza, avian influenza, or coronavirus. Period.
They will work to prevent secondary bacterial pneumonia, but, given the cytokine storm these viruses produce, that will do you little good. It's a long shot. If I had a sick family member, being cared for in total isolation, I would give them antibiotics if I had them, depending on symptoms.
nCoV IS DEFINITELY circulating human to human. H7N9 and H5N1 have yet proven to be human to human. We don't have data because SA hasn't been forthcoming regarding nCoV and the trickle we were getting has stopped. They are a secretive kingdom.
Our sources regarding Saudi Arabia are mum. What we are getting out of machine translated reports are that there is concern and some panic in the populace, which to me, means folks are getting sick and they are not getting answers from their government. I saw a notice on 'mortuary practices regarding nCoV. We have seen notices of school events being cancelled. These are governments that are capable of shutting down the internet and twitter services. Unlike China, where we got some leaks, there is nothing here. Keep in mind ten Chinese bloggers went to prison for blogging about H7N9. There are also attempt to crash my source's site daily. It goes down often.
You have to understand that businesses are rushing to get 'patents' for these viruses. There it money in patenting DNA. There is huge money to be made or lost in vaccine manufacture as well.
***nCoV will NOT have a vaccine. It's a coronavirus. We can NOT make a vaccine that will work.
Antibiotics will NOT work.
I can't say right now, what antivirals will work, but likely, we have none.
Current CFR is at 50%
**H7N9will NOT have a vaccine. H7 vaccines have been attempted in man and failed to get a human immune response.
Antibiotics will NOT work.
Thus far it does respond to Tamiflu and Relenza, but that doesn't mean if you get these drugs you are home free. You may have a chance.
Current CFR is at 30+%
*H5N1DOES have a vaccine, but the vaccine requires a large dose of the drug and it takes 2 doses set apart. We do not and can not make enough to mitigate a pandemic.
Thus far, it responds to Tamiflu and Relenza.
Current CFR is similar to H7N9 at roughly 30+%
I think, it is reasonable to have some antibiotics in your prep supplies. Veterinary antibiotics of certain types will do. I have them. I am also a knowledgeable health care professional. If you don't know what you are doing, they won't help you and could do more harm than good. If you don't have a medical person, such as a registered nurse, pharmacist or doctor in your circle, I suggest thinking about networking.
I strongly suggest having a hard copy professional drug book such as a PDR. The net could go down, then what? You need hard copy books.
There is NOTHING that would stop a devastating pandemic if either of these 3 viruses decides to bolt. nCoV has made the jump to human to human. Two nurses in Saudi caught it from a patient. A hospital room mate of a patient infected with nCoV in France got it. The first cluster in Britain brought it home to 3 of his family members. There are other clusters.
With H7N9 it is less certain, but, it is poised to become human to human. It has more genes directing it that way then does H5N1. That said, some dope in China crossed H5N1 with H1N1 making a hybrid flu that is supposedly locked up in the lab. (Like I feel safe about this. It is also here in the US locked up.) H5N1 on it's own is bad. H1N1 has been the worst flu to strike in 50 years.....why you would cross the two is beyond me. Any of these flus can share DNA, in nature and that is scary enough.
So, don't stockpile antibiotics to try to treat ANY of these diseases. If you feel you want some around (and I do) then get a reasonable selection of antibiotics that target a variety infections. Keep in mind, every antibiotic will not cure every bacterial infection. You have to have some idea of what you are treating. In a primitive world this will hinge on what medical knowledge you have. There are aerobic, anaerobic, gram positive, gram negative bacteria. You can't combine some antibiotics either. They can be toxic to the liver, to the kidneys and to the nervous system. They can produce Clostridium Difficile in your gut and that can kill you over time. Some antibiotics cause cardiac arrhythmias. Don't go relying on just swallowing a bottle of this. You need a knowledgeable medical person or you can get yourself sick.
What can take out a prepper is: bad skin infections likely from injuries, tooth abscess, bladder infections that go up to the kidney, pneumonias, uterine infections after childbirth. Anything less obvious, we won't have the ability to diagnose because we won't have laboratories or imaging. We will have thermometers.
You won't be eating these precious resources for ear infections or sinus infections. There will also be fungal infections, which are far more difficult to treat.
I also suggest adding lice treatment to your supplies. You can buy that at a store. I also have a very nasty bed bug killer, which I have never used because it's toxic, but, if things get really bad and you are being eaten alive, you may consider fumigating your bed and couch.
I suggest keeping ketoconazole shampoo, in case you get skin fungal infection you can use this to wash your body in. Also get fungal treatments for skin and nails. Miconazole for women for yeast. (Also works for men for general fungal.) After you use antibiotics, you are likely to get fungal.
It would not be a bad idea to keep pro-biotics around to repopulate your intestinal flora.
Unless you plan on having new little ones during this siege, it may pay to have condoms on hand too. I'm beyond that phase in my life, but, I have a lot of feisty young people, in my circle. I doubt that they are thinking about contraception in a crisis right now. My nightmare is a problem obstetrical case. Historically 1 out of 100 childbirths caused a maternal death. Historically 1 out of 5 births did not survive the first year. Antibiotics and immunization has mitigated this. Currently 25%-30% of births are via C-section, likely many of those unnecessary, but it's a scary thought.
I would say we are a Green. Blue-Green-Yellow-Orange-Red. Red being get your but in the bunker and load the cannons.
