I bought five of the large bottles for the two of us. Since I think I'm coming down with a cold, I'm giving it a try. So far all I'm sure of is that it tastes bad and doesn't help within two hours.
There are so many things one should know to prep for a pandemic. I think there should be 2-3 months (minimum) of food and water on hand, especially foods that need little or no preparation (open that can of Spam, etc.). You'll want foods that sick people can or will consume - chicken soup in a can, bullion cubes, jello, etc. Water storage for that length of time is more problematic. You'd want three months worth of any prescription meds that you take on a regular basis and a good supply of OTC meds such as Imodium, Tylenol, aspirin, any OTC meds you take for indigestion or heartburn. You want vitamins and any herbal supplements that should be of benefit. The list is long.
I think one should get hold of Tamiflu, if possible, and if not, the old-line drugs amantadine or ramantadine, which may or may not help. That would have a lot to do with what strain of H5N1 gets this far. It would be good to have antibiotics on hand in case of post-flu complications, as well as prescription meds for nausea and cough.
I would recommend a daily reading of curevents.com, recombinomics, and Agonist, at the very least.
If you're going to take this seriously, you also need masks (N95 or N100 rated), gloves (latex and some non-latex in case you develop an allergy), goggles for eye protection.
The best chance of surviving H5N1 will be not to be infected, which means self-quarantine to the max. Once it hits this continent, nobody in and nobody out of this house - that's what self-quarantine means. For smokers and drinkers - this isn't going to be the time to quit, so stock up. Stock up on Pinot Noir wine because of its resveratrol content, which hopefully has anti-viral activity. Anything you think you might want for three months - pet food if you have pets, medicine or flea treatments for them if needed - you need to get it ahead of time. And, from what I'm seeing today, the time is now - unless you've already done it.
Anybody need more of a list about what to do, or what to have - it's all on curevents.com, either in the Flu Clinic or the Prep room.
Nobody knows if the infrastructure would stay up and running, so the safest thing is not to plan on the lights working, or the computer, or the furnace. If you thought you were going to expose your family to something like H5N1, would you be going to work to keep the lights on?
We don't even know if enough people with proper training to keep the lights on would be well enough to go to work, even if they are willing. There's a lot to think about.