Adoption of recommended hand hygiene practices to limit zoonotic disease transmission at agricultural fairs

Abstract

Rapid transmission and spread of infectious pathogens are enhanced by the agricultural fair environment, where large numbers of livestock and people from numerous backgrounds congregate for several days. The transmission of influenza A virus and zoonotic enteric pathogens to fairgoers is a considerable risk and has occurred several times over the past decade. In an effort to mitigate zoonotic disease transmission in these settings, public health guidelines and recommendations including hand sanitation stations have been implemented. While hand hygiene recommendations to prevent the spread of zoonotic disease are well communicated, it is hypothesized that the adoption of these recommendations by agricultural fairs and fairgoers is low. To test this hypothesis, hand hygiene data collected from 658 agricultural fairs between 2012 and 2019 was analyzed to determine frequency and function of hand sanitation stations at the fairs, as well as utilization of educational signage. In addition, an observational study was performed to calculate the proportion of fairgoers who use hand sanitation stations at the fair. Lastly, samples were taken from working hand sanitation stations present at the exits of livestock barns and tested for the presence of influenza A virus and antimicrobial resistant coliform bacteria. Hand sanitation stations were present at most fairs (77.4 %) as recommended, but only 142 out of 2021 (7.0 %) visitors were observed using the stations. Health risk signage was displayed at more than half of fairs while the proper wash procedure was displayed at less than half. No influenza A virus was detected on any of the hand sanitation stations, however antimicrobial resistant coliform bacteria were recovered from 75.5 % of the sampled hand sanitation stations. Fairs should employ educational material along with functional hand sanitation stations in order to promote hand hygiene at fairs. Stations should be maintained and cleaned often to ensure effectiveness, as hand hygiene continues to be recommended to fairgoers when exiting animal barns to reduce zoonotic disease transmission.