Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s pandemic today

And so, it seems, that one of the most dangerous pandemics out there is not some new and exotic strain of avian flu from East Asia, or even some virulent germ warfare smallpox launched by our suicidal enemies… but good old tuberculosis, particularly a medication-resistant variety of TB now ravaging South Africa, particularly among its already AIDS ridden population.
TB, of course, is something that is already running around America’s vast system of prisons… even TB of the drug-resistant kind.
The thing with disease of this kind is that, like climate change, social class and money cannot guarantee protection from the ill-effects of them. In the realms of disease, and climate change, we may all consider ourselves passengers in a life-boat: any idiot who choses to drill holes in the bottom of the boat risks not merely killing himself if he sinks the boat, but everyone on board. Hence, providing real help in improving public health measures in the world’s poorest (and sickest) countries… is a necessary self-defense measure. Will we see it that way?
Until we can establish that this is the appropriate mindset– that there are some issues where, regardless of how much money and goodies we as individuals may have– at the end of the day, we’re still in this together, and we can either work together to solve our common problems, or we can pretend that they are someone else’s problem… at our extreme peril.