Studies Confirm That Poultry Workers Experience Health Risks
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
Poultry house workers who use
proper breathing equipment and
protect their health in confinement
operations are safer than most
operations in the rest of the world,
according to a Penn State exten
sion veterinarian.
But in researching various types
of exposure risks. Dr. Bhushan M.
Jayarao found some surprising
information on a review of the
published results on studies of how
confined operations affect the
health of workers.
In general, broiler houses don’t
fare as well as poultry houses.
According to the extension veter
inarian, broiler houses consistently
show a higher amount of dust, gre
ater ammonia levels, and higher
endotoxin levels than layer houses.
Jayarao discussed the results of
his findings in literature searches
on occupational disease on a
search of peer-reviewed scientific
publications through the Pub Med
service in the Library of Medicine.
He spoke to more than two dozen
poultry producers and agri
industry representatives Monday
afternoon at the Penn State
sponsored Poultry Health and
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In the past 20 years, however, a
lot of changes have taken place.
Scientists have a better under
standing and knowledge of
disease-causing agents, they can
detect disease carriers a lot better,
and producers have responded by
making the houses a lot healthier
for people and birds.
The research looked at five dif
ferent countries and poultry house
health, including Denmark, Eng
land, Germany, Netherlands, and
the U.S., and was published in
1984.
Overall, in broiler houses, the
U.S. led the other countries in low
est amount of agents overall, with
one of the lowest inhalable dust
(4.4 milligrams per cubic meter).
The lowest was Denmark at 3.8.
The U.S. had the lowest respirable
dust at’ 2.4 milligrams per cubic
meter, the lowest inhalable endo
toxin at 61 nanograms per cubic
meter, and one of the lowest respir
able endotoxin at IS nanograms
per cubic meter (Denmark had the
lowest at 6). The U.S. also
recorded one of the lowest ammo
nia levels, at 25 parts per million
(ppm), within the levels estab
lished by monitoring and regulat
ory agencies. The lowest ammonia
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Poultry house workers who use proper breathing equipment and protect their
health in confinement operations are safer than most operations in the rest of the
world, according to Bhushan M. Jayarao, Penn State extension veterinarian, center.
At left is John Schwartz, La piaster extension director and at right is Mike Hulet, Penn
State professor of poultry Science.
levels in this study were recorded
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the studies pointed to,
was that endotoxins are
higher in broiler than layers and
almnbnia levels are also higher
compared to layers in the study.
Dust particles come from a vari
ety of sources, including auto
mated dry-feed handling systems,
feces and feathers, dust mites,
manure particles from birds on sol
id floors, and viral, bacterial, and
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