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Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on May 22, 2008
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2008 52(5):405-412; doi:10.1093/annhyg/men021
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Exposure to Bioaerosols in Poultry Houses at Different Stages of Fattening; Use of Real-time PCR for Airborne Bacterial Quantification

Anne Oppliger*, Nicole Charrière, Pierre-Olivier Droz and Thomas Rinsoz

Institut universitaire romand de santé au Travail (Institute for Work and Health), University of Lausanne and Geneva, Rue du Bugnon 21, CH-1005 Lausanne, Switzerland

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +41-21-314-74-16; fax: +41-21-314-74-30; e-mail: anne.oppliger{at}hospvd.ch

Previous studies have demonstrated that poultry house workers are exposed to very high levels of organic dust and consequently have an increased prevalence of adverse respiratory symptoms. However, the influence of the age of broilers on bioaerosol concentrations has not been investigated. To evaluate the evolution of bioaerosol concentration during the fattening period, bioaerosol parameters (inhalable dust, endotoxin and bacteria) were measured in 12 poultry confinement buildings in Switzerland, at three different stages of the birds’ growth; samples of air taken from within the breathing zones of individual poultry house employees as they caught the chickens ready to be transported for slaughter were also analysed. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) was used to assess the quantity of total airborne bacteria and total airborne Staphylococcus species. Bioaerosol levels increased significantly during the fattening period of the chickens. During the task of catching mature birds, the mean inhalable dust concentration for a worker was 26 ± 1.9 mg m–3 and endotoxin concentration was 6198 ± 2.3 EU m–3 air, >6-fold higher than the Swiss occupational recommended value (1000 EU m–3). The mean exposure level of bird catchers to total bacteria and Staphylococcus species measured by Q-PCR is also very high, respectively, reaching values of 53 (±2.6) x 107 cells m–3 air and 62 (±1.9) x 106 m–3 air. It was concluded that in the absence of wearing protective breathing apparatus, chicken catchers in Switzerland risk exposure beyond recommended limits for all measured bioaerosol parameters. Moreover, the use of Q-PCR to estimate total and specific numbers of airborne bacteria is a promising tool for evaluating any modifications intended to improve the safety of current working practices.

Keywords: airborne bacteria • bioaerosols • endotoxin • occupational health • poultry farm • Staphylococcus xylosus

Received November 5, 2007; in final form April 16, 2008


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