Health hazards and inhalatory exposures in poultry farming

Poultry workers are exposed to high concentrations of organic dust, endotoxins and ammonia. These exposures lead to many questions about farmers' health. This dust comes from feed, feces and litter. The most important health effects are chronic bronchitis, respiratory airways obstruction and asthma-like symptoms. Endotoxins are suspected of being implicated in all of these diseases. In most epidemiological studies, the prevalence of respiratory symptoms and pulmonary function are compared between exposed and non-exposed subjects. All these studies show increased respiratory symptoms and deteriorated pulmonary function in exposed subjects. If these diseases are compared between different agricultural productions, they are more predominant in poultry farming; in quasi-experimental studies (before and after a work day), only some studies show deteriorations of the pulmonary function after the work day. No cohort study has been carried out in poultry farming. So, more studies are needed to evaluate the health effects and to quantify the risks associated with the exposures in poultry farming. And also, better identifications and quantifications of particulates present in organic dust must be made.