It will be a miracle if H5N1 does not go full explosive pandemic.
I actually spent a chunk of time trying to figure out how to get OSHA involved.
🧵 on what THEY know, and TRANSMISSION.
tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/06
So, the USDA wants you to not be worried. They EXPECTED numbers to go up.
But they forgot to tell their boss, @SecVilsack, who says it will be isolated and burn out, because they have biosecurity plans available, and understand how it's transmitted.
agriculture.com/usda-aims-to-i…
He said that on June 4th, and when there were 80 herds, 9 states.
Now, there are 97 herds, 12 states.
Their preventive measures have been in place since May 1.
THEIR PREVENTIVE MEASURES ARE NOT WORKING.
Why? We have to know HOW it is transmitted.
A reporter asks the task force - obviously, you think contaminated clothes are the source.
Here's a good synopsis of the Michigan report they mention. That synopsis mentions that it would be good to implement the Secure Supply Biosecurity Plan.
. michiganfarmnews.com/usda-releases-…
USDA APHIS replies that they know that shared clothing is a risk factor.
Got that - just a risk factor. We'll come back to that because I went digging.
@USDA_APHIS then goes on to state that they DEPEND ON PUBLIC HEALTH TO TELL THEM IF PEOPLE ARE INFECTED.
45 people have been tested. Total.
Across 12 states and 97 farms.
So, the USDA is telling us not to worry because they are depending on public health to test people to let us know if it is spreading in people.
Who are not being tested.
cdc.gov/bird-flu/h5-mo…
Not coincidentally, did you know that 10% of poultry workers test positive for H5N1?
Per @NIOSH, in DHHS (NIOSH) Publication Number 2008–128
"Protecting Poultry Workers from Avian
Influenza (Bird Flu)"
In which they recommend respirators or PAPR. cdc.gov/niosh/docs/200…
Which brings us back to the vaunted @USDA_APHIS Secure Supply "No respirators required" plan from 2017 👇.
Did you notice that @USDA_APHIS actually did NOT ANSWER if infected workers were the reason for the spread?
They just focused on the clothes.
But speaking of clothes - is it because your pants leg sneaks up into your nose?
No. It's because virus contaminated aerosols (dust, respiratory, fecal, milk - all possibilities) land on your clothes.
As you move, or wind hits them, they resuspend into the air., and they get inhaled.
This is why Secure Supply has Tyvek coveralls.
NIOSH also has Tyvek
coveralls. But NIOSH ALSO HAS RESPIRATORS, AND has a full on donning and doffing procedure. It is deliberately designed to lower the risk of inhaling those aerosols as you take off the overalls, gloves, boot coverings.
Remove clothes, coverings with respie and goggles on.
Then remove goggles and respirator. Wash hands.
Shower.
And that is just for clothes.
Respirators are also so workers don't inhale the aerosols straight from the dust, cow breath, dried fecal particles, milk aerosols.
When we turn to the vaunted Secure Supply BIOSECURITY website for dairy producers, not a respirator in site.
More examples....
PDF for
The ONLY time respirator is mentioned is in reference to spraying disinfectants. Once. securemilksupply.org/milk-producers…
securemilksupply.org/Assets/SMS_Enh…
So, I am really at a loss as to get someone to change that Secure Supply website done in 2017 in light of the airborne aerosols of H5N1.
@CorsIAQ, I couldn't help notice that UC Davis was one of the contributors.
Any chance you can gt that dept to reach out?
Cheers either way!
@CorsIAQ Almost forgot - an assumption that @USDA_APHIS is making.
That public health will be able to have some indicator if people have been infected.
There is no such guarantee. There will be asymptomatics. Presymptomatics. Symptoms like SARS2.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…
I was wrong. I said 97.
104 herds infected.
From 36 on May 1st which is when all of their current mitigations were all in place.
At what point, @Alexander_Tin @HelenBranswell, for the USDA and CDC, do they say the current strategy is not working?
Is this considered success @SecVilsack ?
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