On Places-I

Abstract

S03: One Health: On animals, humans and the environment, Room 417, Floor 4, August 26, 2019, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Intensive livestock farming is associated with high exposures to dust, dander and fumes. Farmers are at high risk of developing asthma, COPD, other respiratory diseases as well as contracting diseases directly from the animals e.g. zoonotic diseases. Due to livestock farming large quantities of manure is accumulated, which is in turn is used as crop fertilizers on the surrounding land. Manure gives off fumes and gases, which affects the environment around the farm. These fumes and gases are suspected to aggravate respiratory diseases, but not necessarily cause them. Intensive use of antibiotics in the farming production influences development of resistant bacteria, which can be transferred into the surrounding environment and potentially pose serious health risks. Despite farming being known as dusty and dirty several studies have shown that it also represents an exposure with beneficial effects on our health. It turns out that farmers have less allergy and less allergic asthma than the general population. It is still unclear what causes this beneficial effect but the theory is that the diverse microbial exposure found in the farming environment represents a positive stimulation of our immune system. It furthermore appears that an urban rural gradient of atopic disease exists and that the farming environment provides the best protection. The farming exposure being dirty yet beneficial is a conundrum we continue to investigate.