I would suspect that if we are talking the pharmaceutical industry, then that will be one of the first to disappear and could take decades (or longer) to return, it is one of those industries that is so hi-tech and relies on so much technology to develop and produce medicines, that I would suggest once stocks are run down, that is it for the foreseeable future.
But, that doesn't stop us going back and using herbal remedies, as BP has often promoted.
The shocking thing for me was the article last week about 50% of the UK population being on prescription meds. Admittedly a large number of them would still survive without the meds, but the worry is the number of people on meds who either are (or would claim to be) unfit to work after an event. As alluded to above, manpower will be the new horsepower and so everyone will need to pull their weight, whether as part of a community, or whether you are surviving alone.
(14 December 2014, 21:01)MaryN Wrote: Keeping your tetanus jabs up to date now would be a good start, NR, as it is supposed to have a longer protective period than the 10 years given. As for septicaemia, well even with the antibiotics we have now this is still a dangerous thing. I did read somewhere that low exposure to "dirt" when young does make a person more prone to infections later; I don't know how true that is, but it could make a dammed good excuse for a bit of mud wrestling!
(14 December 2014, 21:22)NorthernRaider Wrote: Good point about keeping inoculations up to date, Measles, Tet etc.
I had an incident with an axe in the woods about 3 or 4 years ago now and they told me that they no longer do boosters for Tetanus.