Question:
Some posts indicate that people are spending money purchasing bottled water to store for y2k -- probably at considerable expense. There have also been numerous posts about how to purify or store water. I've been pondering this (that means I've been thinkin' 'bout it). When folks run out of their Perrier (and I believe they will), what are they going to do then?

Answer: The people who develop immunities do so at the cost of the infant mortality, the seniors' lives, and sometimes anyone else's. Look at cholera outbreaks in, say, India (where they drink from the Ganges... India's graveyard and sewer!) when there are floods during the monsoons. I'd be inclined to classify them as drinking some damn bad water normally, but they still drop like flies when cholera shows up.

It takes quite a few generations for a given population to adapt if it can. Cholera takes a person out in about three to five days..... I'll bet a hospital could beat a case, but if it gets that bad, they'll be full of other people. Do you suppose they have the antibiotics to protect/cure a large percentage of the population at once?