Abstract
Little information exists on the microbiomes of livestock workers. A cross-sectional, epidemiological study was conducted enrolling 59 participants (26 of which had livestock contact) in Iowa. Participants were enrolled in one of four ways: from an existing prospective cohort study (n = 38), from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Animal Feeding Operations database (n = 17), through Iowa county fairs (n = 3), and through snowball sampling (n = 1). We collected swabs from the nares and oropharynx of each participant to assess the microbiome via 16s rRNA sequencing. We observed livestock workers to have greater diversity in their microbiomes compared to those with no livestock contact. In the nares, there were 27 operational taxonomic units found to be different between livestock workers and non-livestock workers with the greatest difference seen with Streptococcus and Proteobacteria. In the oropharynx, livestock workers with swine exposure were more likely to carry several pathogenic organisms. The results of this study are the first to characterize the livestock worker nasal and oropharyngeal microbiomes.
Highlights
The importance of microorganisms in maintaining human health has been recognized for many years
Livestock workers were significantly older than non-livestock workers (59.1 and 51.1 years respectively, P = 0.027) and were predominantly male (92.3%) while males only made up 51.5% of the non-livestock workers (P = 0.0007) (Table 1)
Very little is known about the healthy livestock worker nasal and oropharyngeal microbiomes
Summary
The importance of microorganisms in maintaining human health has been recognized for many years. The composition of the microbiome is greatly influenced by one’s environment [1] It has been hypothesized the composition of the microbiome may protect those raised on farms from developing diseases such as asthma and atopy through animal-associated microbes and plant materials that stimulate the immune system (the farm effect) [2]. Adults working in close proximity to animals are at increased risk of respiratory conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), occupational asthma, and organic dust toxic syndrome [4] This is in part due to the inhalation of organic dust containing microorganisms [5, 6] that result in a dysregulation of the host immune response.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
