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…

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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

Jun 1
A thread on airborne Ebola - the rest is accurate.

Let me emphasize that I agree far more than disagree with her, in general.

Declaring a thing debunked without actually debunking it, with facts, is not debunking.

So, let me debunk this. Image
Dr. Kuppila has excellent credentials, and has earned her laurels.

If we accepted the debunking of airborne Ebola on the basis of credentials, we would have given into the fallacy of appeal to authority.

:) not today.

She worked in an Ebola Treatment Unit in Sierra Leone,
coming back in December 2014, and now resides in Dallas per her very interesting StatNews article:



She did not get infected. We could have survivorship bias here - fortunately.

This is a reference to possible surgical mask usage by her.

You see, the web.archive.org/web/2026052103…Image
Read 22 tweets
May 28
Ebola - it's not all about respiratory aerosols.

DYK that you, and me, and everybody are Pig Pen from Charlie Brown?

We shed our entire outer layer of skin every 2-4 weeks, about 500 million cells daily.

Your corneocytes (outermost cells) lift off of your body with the
gentlest of micro-air currents. Like a leaf picked up off the ground for the briefest of moments in fall.

They act like 12 micron aerosols in float time, but 25% of total skin flakes are sub 5 microns...and you know what that means. Deep deposition - or shallow as
sub 5 likes to also deposit in the nose.

It's funny...I embrace push-back in debate. Tightens up my game.

Imagine if those skin flakes now have Ebola on them?

Two studies show that Ebola literally oozes through the skin - both ways. In and out.

Not shown in vivo, but
Read 10 tweets
May 23
The WHO forbids contact tracers from masking or gloving up.

"Do not conduct home visits wearing personal protective equipment like masks, gloves, or
gowns."

It gets worse. Do not conduct home visits wearing personal protective equipment like masks, gloves, or  gowns.
They have a handy how to reduce risk of catching ebola at home.

It even has 5 masks listed on it.

But not for the other family members.

"7. If the patient has vomit, diarrhoea or bleeding, a mask or a dry towel wrapped around the face can be used to protect the nose and mouth Image
7. If the patient has vomit, diarrhoea or bleeding, a mask or a dry towel wrapped around the face can be used to protect the nose and mouth when touching the patient or items soiled with blood or body fluids. A waterproof gown, eye protection, gloves and rubber boots should also be worn in these circumstances.
Here are the 5 face masks. Image
Read 9 tweets
May 22
The "epidemiology" of Ebola tells us that it's not airborne. You've heard this over and over.

What drives it? The questions on the contact tracing form.

Quick 🧵. Image
COVID - the WHO and CDC said it wasn't airborne via aerosols, right?

The CDC said it was spread person to person via close contact - within about 6 feet.



And you remember it took FOREVER to get changed.

The contact tracing form was web.archive.org/web/2020032817…Image
Image
arranged around close contact. These are the questions driving the stats of how many and how are infected.



So, the CDC will only hear back what it's asking. This was the epidemiology of COVID - until it wasn't. web.archive.org/web/2020052514…Image
Read 16 tweets
May 20
Speaking of silly, can we agree that the WHO has Ebola experts?

Let's talk about PPE, and a bias towards "less PPE is better." Image
The WHO EBOLA IPC guidance:


Foreshadow on PPE

"...due to the desirability of an off-
the-face design, and not for protection from aerosols, respirators may be used instead of medical masks"who.int/publications/i…
If you can stay 3 feet away while screening? No medical mask needed. Image
Image
Read 12 tweets
May 10
Great article by @EmilyJoshu here.

Emily, there's another article in this that's even more shocking.

The aerosols from milking have long been discussed by many of us on X.

People like myself, @sri_srikrishna, @AbraarKaran have long advocated for comfortable aerosol
protective gear like PAPRs. But, have been ignored by the USDA who, of course, thought it was only contaminated milking gear like the claw.

But there is one more source of aerosols besides cow breath.

The wastewater. When you spray anything you generate huge amounts of Image
aerosols. And that farm wastewater, filled with milk dumped from being full of H5N1, gets reclaimed and reused.

Those milk and wastewater lagoons are on most dairy farms (my grandfather owned a dairy farm).

And there's something you should know.

Image
Read 15 tweets

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