Lazarus Long Profile picture
Jun 14, 2024 21 tweets 10 min read Read on X
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…


We do see it as kind of a naive population where we see those numbers go up that’s expected. That’s not necessarily alarming in the sense of we understand how this disease spreads.  However, to get really further ahead in this space. Again, it goes back to the biosecurity we’re really wanting all industries all to really up their biosecurity, have those enhanced biosecurity plans. We do have through our funding mechanisms, again, options for unaffected, as well as affected herds to both be able to increase biosecurity plans on site to one, keep disease out of their herds. And two, to keep d...
“We are trying to essentially corner the virus” within infected herds so it eventually dissipates, he said during a teleconference.
The USDA’s strategy against bird flu in dairy cattle is to identify infected herds and wait for the virus to die out within the herds, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Monday. “I’m confident we have a good understanding of the virus and how it is being transferred,” he added.
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-…

I saw in the Michigan report, it talked about shared workers being that only transmission link between dairy and poultry. I mean, have you looked into the possibility that infected workers were the vector? Or is there a reason that you think contaminated clothing is more likely? Thanks.
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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. I saw in the Michigan report, it talked about shared workers being that only transmission link between dairy and poultry. I mean, have you looked into the possibility that infected workers were the vector? Or is there a reason that you think contaminated clothing is more likely? Thanks.  Kammy Johnson, APHIS [00:20:22]  That’s a great question. And thank you for bringing that up.  When we look at those genetic sequences, we do see that there are relationships and between those viruses, and we are relying on our public health colleagues to tell us and have some indicator on whether or not pe...
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…
Image
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…

Image
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Which brings us back to the vaunted @USDA_APHIS Secure Supply "No respirators required" plan from 2017 👇.


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Did you notice that @USDA_APHIS actually did NOT ANSWER if infected workers were the reason for the spread? Image
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 Image
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. Image
Then remove goggles and respirator. Wash hands. Image
Shower. Image
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…

Image
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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!
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@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…


Image
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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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More from @LazarusLong13

Mar 26
I've become a bit of a Dental Nerd after just getting savaged by avoiding the dentist due to COVID.

But, now, I have a Dental Nasal PAPR, know all about Stephan's Curve, use a waterpik, Oral-B iO Series 10, chew 8 pieces of xylitol gum - and the dentist just said that.....
He has never seen anyone reverse course so perfectly before.

"Immaculate."

And bonus...I ran into a fellow masker in his lobby!!

She had never heard of Readimask, so I was super happy to share the Good Word with her.

Sharing the Good Word - not COVID!
Read 4 tweets
Mar 16
Now, this is a very interesting PREPRINT.

We've all heard that shingles vaccination reduces risk of Alzheimer's.

And we all know that Covid increases the risk of Alzheimer's by 50-80%.

What happens when you mix them? Will the vaccination offset a different disease?

/1 Opposing effects of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 infection and recombinant zoster vaccination on the risk of late-onset Alzheimer disease  View ORCID ProfileCarly M. Rose, Shiying Liu,  View ORCID ProfileWilliam S. Bush, Jonathan L. Haines, Scott M. Williams,  View ORCID ProfileDana C. Crawford N3C Consortium doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.21.26344555 This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.
Yes.

But by how much? Conclusions and Relevance SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 infection and recombinant zoster vaccination are modifiable risk factors for LOAD among older individuals, with a modestly significant interaction between the two. Recombinant zoster vaccination reduced LOAD risk regardless of sex and race, though the protection is greater in those without documented COVID-19 infection. Recombinant zoster vaccination and reduced exposure to COVID-19 infection in the later decades of life reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer disease over at least a five-year period.
Useful for below - "Late-onset Alzheimer disease (LOAD; onset age ≥65)"

"odds of LOAD are 16% higher among those with at least one reported COVID-19 infection" Image
Read 7 tweets
Mar 3
A doctor complaining about wearing N95s? Thread foreshadow in the gif 👇.

Dr. Sax, you should read this.

The arrogance of medical doctors thinking they know better than the CDC NIOSH and OSHA?

This comes as no surprise.
Imagine if an asbestos worker, or a tech working in BioSafety Lab was complaining about this.

But somehow, doctors making over $200,000 get carte blanche and and a piece in the @NEJM Voices.

And he does have a loud voice.
This is Dr. Sax, Clinical Director, Division of Infectious Diseases (ID), at THE Harvard hospital. In 2014, he wrote about how ID docs only make $174,000.

He probably makes northwards of $269,000.

This is very, very relevant.

You see, he is put out by the inconvenience Image
Read 23 tweets
Feb 27
From the ZeroCovid sub on Reddit.

How DO we do it?

Hyper vigilance, constant exposure calculations, discussing and taking precautions?

How do I do it?

Quick thread. I would like to hear covid conscious folks opinions on this:  I have long covid (mecfs + pots + mcas). I’ve been sick to varying degrees since 2022. My life has been severely affected by this. At this point, I can’t work. I am mostly housebound, recovering slowly but I still have to spend some days in bed. Recovery from this is awful, especially because it’s not widely understood.  With all that said. I still feel like, for me, a life full of hyper vigilance, constant exposure calculations, discussing and taking precautions…I can’t do it. I don’t want to live that way.  How can I approach t...
I don't do it.

I don't do exposure calculations.

I don't have hyper vigilance.

I am Vax, Mask, and Relax.

For me, it's just a series of habits now. Drive to the wherever, hit parking lot, put on N95. Get out of car. Stays on until I get back into the car.
A new vaccine comes out? I get it.

I go stay in a hotel?

2nd floor Motel 6 with no shared HVAC (has the PTAC) . Open door/windows for one hour until complete air exchange.

Go through a drive through? N95 on before window is rolled down. Drive away? I roll down both to
Read 6 tweets
Feb 26
After reading a study, and reaching for my phone, if the first thing I do is check to see if I have @'d someone in the past?

That's not a good sign.

I have never @'d them, and this is not directed @ them.

But this IS a debunk thread.

And it starts with who.

/1
Study here. Before you read it?

This thread is about providing context. Read the thread, @SalvMattera's comments, AND THEN, read the study.

0/10 from me.

thelancet.com/journals/lanep…
Who paid for it? The Dutch government - who has been spectacularly almost Tegnell-like in their downplaying of LongCovid and masks.

Lead authors are from RIVM, their CDC.

RIVM was antimask even when they FINALLY recommended masks in OCTOBER 2020.

nltimes.nl/2020/10/03/dut…Image
Image
Read 13 tweets
Dec 21, 2025
Oh, we are cooked. Just cooked.

"Brain Mitochondrial dysfunction, known for ~20 years is finally recognized as a central upstream driver of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), not just a downstream effect."

And SARS2's targeting of mitochondria is well-known.

Even in the brain.
/1 We identified dysregulation of mitochondrial and synaptic pathways in deep-layer excitatory neurons and upregulation of neuroinflammation in glia, consistent across both mRNA and protein. Remarkably, these alterations overlapped substantially with changes in age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Our work, combining multiple experimental and analytical methods, demonstrates the brain-wide impact of severe acute/subacute COVID-19, involving both cortical and subcortical regions, shedding light on potential therapeutic targets within pat...
@LauraMiers, in case you don't have it.

nature.com/articles/s4358…
@LauraMiers This is yet another reason why I N95.

Read 6 tweets

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