Stocking up on rubber gloves and masks

Last night Mr. Goatee and I watched a special on the history channel on the plague and a worst-case scenario if the avian bird flu mutates to be the next plague during our lifetimes. They played it like it was going to happen, that it's just a matter of time and when it does happen it is going to spread across the earth and half of the world's population is going to die from it sometime in the next couple years.

It terrified me. I don't want to die from some plague-like disease.

Surely there is some way to stop it, either by quaranteen or vaccinations or something. But if this thing really is going to mutate, what do we do about it? I told Mr. Goatee last night, if this hits, I'm going to buy a shack in the middle of the woods in the Appalachians somewhere, stock up on food and water enough for a year, and go live in extreme isolation.

Ok, so it sounds a little extreme, but seriously. I feel like at least stocking up on masks, rubber gloves and antibacterial soap for now, just to be prepared.