A Study of the Relationship Between Airborne Contaminants and Environmental Factors in Dutch Swine Confinement Buildings

Abstract

A total of 171 swine confinement buildings were studied to determine the concentrations of airborne total and D50 less than or equal to micron 8.5 dust fractions, total and gram-negative bacteria, bacterial endotoxin and NH3. The concentrations of these airborne contaminants then were correlated statistically to a number of environmental factors such as feeding practices, number of animals and ventilation parameters. The results showed that airborne dust, endotoxin, bacteria and NH3 are commonly in high concentrations within the swine confinement buildings and that these are at levels where health effects have been observed in other studies. Correlation of these airborne contaminants to a number of environmental factors showed that while ventilation is an important criteria for airborne contaminants, there are a number of farming practices that significantly contribute to the levels of airborne contaminants currently found. Pearson correlations indicate a number of important criteria that the industrial hygienist should measure when faced with problems in agricultural confinement buildings.

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness and exposure in pig farmers

“…This is in accordance with the association found between automated feeding systems and chronic symptoms in our former study [49] and with the slightly lower lung function for farmers with automated systems found in that study and earlier by Bongers and co workers [9]. In another part of our study [37] we showed that wet feeding is associated with lower exposure to dust, as reported also by Attwood and coworkers [2]. Both in this and former studies, there is evidence that the combination of automation with dry feed is associated with adverse health effects.…”

Relationship of airborne microorganisms with the lung function and leucocyte levels of workers with a history of humidifier fever.

“…For the measurement of both viable fungi and endotoxins this problem has been discussed in the literature recently (17,18,30,31). However the measurements of viable fungi and endotoxins performed by our laboratory in other occupational settings, such as swine confinement buildings and grain elevators , are clearly in concordance with the results of other published studies and are not suggestive of a serious underestimation of exposure levels (18,19,32,33). The use of glass fiber filters instead of absolute filters might be a factor which could have contributed to an underestimation of the endotoxin exposure in this specific low-exposure situation.…”

“…The analyses were done . in our laboratory according to a previously described procedure (19), using the Coatest Endotoxin Test Kit (Kabivitrum, Sweden). The filter extract was split into two fractions and spiked with a known quantity of endotoxin delivered with the test kit.…”

Characteristics of Microbial Aerosols Released from Chicken and Swine Feces

“…4,10 Swine confinement buildings that are equipped with systems that separate solid and liquid manure have better air quality than conventional systems without such separation. 9 Workers who manually feed nursery pigs suffer from high exposure to airborne bacteria, odors, and H 2 S. 3,[11][12][13] Similarly, the size distribution and concentrations of particulates in swine buildings are affected by the degree of animal activity, ventilation, bedding materials, and floor type. 12, 13 Oppliger and co-workers 2 demonstrated that occupational exposure to inhalable dusts, endotoxins, and bacteria is related to the growth stage of the animals because the biomass of feces and feather dandruff increase drastically during fattening periods.…”