Work Boots Research Articles

CD05 Return of cement-related allergic contact dermatitis: a case series and review of the literature

Abstract We report a case of a 23-year-old male bricklayer of 6 years who presented to our cutaneous allergy service with a 3-year history of a hand and foot dermatitis. Workwear included leather work boots and fibreglass gloves, which he used intermittently. His past medical history included childhood eczema and hay fever. Patch testing revealed strong reactions (++) to potassium dichromate and cobalt. Both were felt to be of current relevance due to cement exposure at work and from the leather in his boots. A review of our database revealed 8088 patients tested to the British Society for Cutaneous Allergy standard battery. A total of 662 were positive to cobalt and 339 to potassium dichromate. Of these, 121 patients were positive to both potassium dichromate and cobalt. Four of these were bricklayers, only one of whom was seen prior to the European Union (EU) cement directive. All reported hand dermatitis, and two also had foot involvement. In order to minimize chromate allergy, EU legislation in 2005 banned the sale of cements containing more than 2 parts per million (0.0002%) of hexavalent chromium. This minimal level is often achieved by adding a reducing agent such as ferrous sulphate to chromium III, which is less bioavailable and less likely to penetrate through the skin. Work suggests that rates of chromium-related allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) have diminished following this legislation with the incidence rate ratio between 2002–2004 and 2005–2009 falling to 0.37 (P = 0.001) in cement workers (Stocks SJ, McNamee R, Turner S et al. Has European Union legislation to reduce exposure to chromate in cement been effective in reducing the incidence of allergic contact dermatitis attributed to chromate in the UK? Occup Environ Med 2012; 69:150–2). Despite this change, sensitization is still possible without adequate protection, such as in our patient’s case. Additionally, the reducing agent’s activity diminishes over time; therefore, if it is not appropriately stored or used after its recommended shelf life, it may expose users to higher levels than are regulated. Despite the low concentration of cobalt in cement (0.01%), allergy may occur. It has been noted that sensitization to both metals is common in bricklayers, but this coexisting sensitivity was not seen in other professions where patients were allergic to chromium (Giménez Camarasa JM. Cobalt contact dermatitis. Acta Derm Venereol 1967; 47:287–92). We aim to highlight the ongoing issue of ACD associated with cement and review the recent history around potassium dichromate and cobalt in this regard.

Parliamentary Dress

Parliamentary Dress

Occupational Footwear Design Influences Biomechanics and Physiology of Human Postural Control and Fall Risk

While design modifications present on work boots improve safety, they may not always provide optimal human performance during work tasks. Understanding the impact of these different design features on biomechanical and physiological postural control and locomotion variables can aid in better design modifications that can provide a safe and efficient human performance. This brief review focuses on a series of studies conducted by the current research team, that have tested three different work boots (SB: high-top steel-toed work boots; TB: high-top tactical work boots; SR: low-top slip-resistant work boots). The series of studies included testing of these work boots or combinations of them under acute and chronic simulated occupational workloads, assessing biomechanical variable such as postural stability, gait, slips, and muscle activity, as well as physiological variables such as heart rate, energy expenditure, oxygen consumption, and pain perception. The impact of each of the work boots and their design feature on postural control and locomotion are summarized from these studies’ previously published literature. Finally, work boot design suggestions for optimal human performance are provided for better work boot selection, modification, and design.

On Loving Clothes, and Preferring Not To

On Loving Clothes, and Preferring Not To

Our Town, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, Texas

<i>Our Town</i>, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas, Texas

Farming women, distress and drought: Intra‐actions and entanglements with matter

AbstractFarming women have rarely been the focus of scholarly work on drought and/or distress. This article focuses on farming women's lived experience of drought and distress, drawing on a participatory filmmaking project created by a small group of farming women from Southern Australia. Feminist materialism and Barad's (2003) concept of ‘intra‐action’ provides a useful lens to examine both the film as an artefact as well as the discussions among the women during its creation. Intra‐action enables an exploration of how farming women's bodies come into being as distressed in moments of time through and with drought as a complex constellation of multiple ‘matter’. The film and narratives show distressed bodies emerging with dust, wind, objects and the suffering of non‐human animals. For these women, distress emerges from hearing, sensing, seeing and feeling the irritation of dirt splattered against window panes, the emotional pain and economic consequences of topsoil blowing across paddocks and as feed becomes hard to source, the recognition of the suffering of sheep. The power of these animate and inanimate ‘things’—windmills, windows, troughs, work boots, animals and soil—were sensorily entangled with women's bodies. For farming women, distress materialises within their bodies through processes of intra‐action in their more‐than‐human worlds.

Seize the day.

Auburn hair curls over his forehead; freckles scatter across his cheeks beneath denim-blue eyes. His work boots have left clumps of mud on the floor. As he perches on the stool, his left arm rests over the exam table. He’s already peeled off the bandage, revealing a healing laceration across his

Effect of work boot shaft stiffness and sole flexibility on boot clearance and shank muscle activity when walking on simulated coal mining surfaces: implications for reducing trip risk

Mining work boot shaft stiffness and sole flexibility variations are likely to affect how a miner moves their foot to clear the ground thus influencing their risk of tripping. Despite the potential negative consequences associated with tripping, limited research has investigated how these boot design features might contribute to a miner’s trip risk. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of systematic variations to boot shaft stiffness and sole flexibility on lower limb alignment and shank muscle activity at toe off and boot clearance during initial swing when 20 males walked across two simulated coal mining surfaces. Although knee and hip alignment remained constant, changes to boot shaft stiffness and sole flexibility significantly interacted to influence the shank muscle activity and ankle alignment displayed at toe off. To reduce the risk of tripping, underground coal miners should avoid a boot with a stiff shaft, regardless of the sole flexibility.

Sensory Organization Test Conditions Influence Postural Strategy Rather than Footwear or Workload.

Background: Postural strategies such as ankle, hip, or combined ankle-hip strategies are used to maintain optimal postural stability, which can be influenced by the footwear type and physiological workload. Purpose: This paper reports previously unreported postural strategy scores during the six conditions of the sensory organization test (SOT). Methods: Fourteen healthy males (age: 23.6 ± 1.2 years; height: 181 ± 5.3 cm; mass: 89.2 ± 14.6 kg) were tested for postural strategy adopted during SOT in three types of occupational footwear (steel-toed work boot, tactical work boot, low-top work shoe) every 30 min during a 4-h simulated occupational workload. Postural strategy scores were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance at 0.05 alpha level. Results: Significant differences among postural strategy scores were only evident between SOT conditions, and but not between footwear type or the workload. Conclusions: Findings indicate that occupational footwear and occupational workload did not cause a significant change in reliance on postural strategies. The significant changes in postural strategy scores were due to the availability of accurate and/or conflicting sensory feedback during SOT conditions. In SOT conditions where all three types of sensory feedback was available, the ankle strategy was predominantly adopted, while more reliance on hip strategy occurred in conditions with absent or conflicting sensory feedback.

Role of Occupational Footwear and Prolonged Walking on Lower Extremity Muscle Activation during Maximal Exertions and Postural Stability Tasks

Background: Occupational footwear and a prolonged duration of walking have been previously reported to play a role in maintaining postural stability. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the impact of three types of occupational footwear: the steel-toed work boot (ST), the tactical work boot (TB), and the low-top work shoe (LT) on previously unreported lower extremity muscle activity during postural stability tasks. Methods: Electromyography (EMG) muscle activity was measured from four lower extremity muscles (vastus medialis (VM), medial hamstrings (MH), tibialis anterior (TA), and medial gastrocnemius (MG) during maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) and during a sensory organization test (SOT) every 30 min over a 4 h simulated workload while wearing ST, TB, and LT footwear. The mean MVIC and the mean and percentage MVIC during each SOT condition from each muscle was analyzed individually using a repeated measures ANOVA at an alpha level of 0.05. Results: Significant differences (p &lt; 0.05) were found for maximal exertions, but this was limited to only the time main effect. No significant differences existed for EMG measures during the SOT. Conclusion: The findings suggest that occupational footwear type does not influence lower extremity muscle activity during both MVIC and SOT. Significantly lower muscle activity during maximal exertions over the course of the 4 h workload was evident, which can be attributed to localized muscular fatigue, but this was not sufficient to impact muscle activity during postural stability tasks.

Keeping

Keeping Thomas Dodson (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Photo by Patrick Gaudin [End Page 20] It was a humbling thing, asking for help like this, needing it so badly. But removing his hat, brushing flakes of snow from brim and crown, Guy knew there was no other way. His neighbors' fields, already stripped of corn and soybeans, would soon be a single plain of snow, patches of winter rye the only green for acres. [End Page 21] Cold winds would blow freely across all that flatness, gathering strength until they reached the stand of pines at the edge of his apiary. The trees would provide a break, and he could wrap the hives in tar paper to keep out the frost, but it wouldn't be enough. His bees, what was left of them, they wouldn't survive an Iowa winter. He needed to take them west. He'd been standing on the porch of Taylor's place, weighed down with what he meant to ask, when he heard the baby crying. It wailed and wailed, a helpless thing, full to the top with need. When it finally hushed, he opened the screen and knocked. Taylor's wife answered. She had the baby with her, his head covered in wisps of fine brown hair, face pressed to her breast, sucking away. Guy coughed and looked down at his shoes. "Come in," Andrea said, unconcerned. "Taylor's out back, finishing up." He followed her inside, ducking to avoid the transom. Forty-odd years of lifting supers filled with honey, each box heavy as a newborn calf, had stooped his shoulders. But all told, work in the beeyard had done him good. He hadn't dwindled like other men his age, was still broad-backed and tall. He knew to move carefully in these old farmhouses. In the dining room, his eyes were drawn to the glass-windowed cabinet. It was built to house pickled beets and bottles of homemade jam, but Taylor's wife had stocked it with books, their spines emblazoned with words like "feminist," "gay and lesbian," "queer." He could remember a time when it would have been dangerous to have such books where people could see them. "Ain't much difference," his father had said, "between a cocksucker and a communist." "You're in your Sunday best," Andrea said. "Business in town?" She lowered herself into a chair and settled the baby on her lap. "The bank. Every once in a while, they like to bring you in, turn you upside down, see if anything falls out." She smiled politely. In truth, it was only for this visit that he'd traded his work boots for Oxfords, set aside his overalls, and retrieved his suit from the back of the closet. He'd worn it last ten years ago, at Alma's funeral. The back door clattered shut, and Taylor called from the kitchen, "Something got at one of the hives. Scat on the ground and some bees chewed and spat out." "In here," Andrea said. "Guy stopped by." "Oh, yeah?" Taylor said cheerfully. She strode into the room, wiping her hands on the front of her jeans, the cuffs still tucked into her socks. [End Page 22] She placed a hand on Andrea's shoulder, bent down and kissed the baby's head. The chair next to Andrea was stacked with papers. Taylor cleared them and sat down. "Should've phoned first," Guy said, shifting in his seat. "You're always welcome, you know that." The tips of his ears burning, he looked at his hands. These bouts of bashfulness, they sometimes happened around Taylor. She was just so—he couldn't think of a better word for it—handsome. She reminded him of James Dean in East of Eden and also, vaguely, of Milton Law, a high school classmate and the first boy he'd ever kissed. "Brought you this." Setting his hat on the table, he retrieved the package from under his arm, a square section of honeycomb in a clear plastic box. He'd selected, for his offering, a product of his strongest hive. Workers had filled each of the cells...

Surfacing

Surfacing Carrie R. Moore (bio) Memory settles over the house like salt blown in from the sea. Spanish moss wilts green over the drive. Windows arch like glass lungs, breathing in her husband’s reflection as he cuts across the yard and searches the perimeter. For weeks, she’s wanted to come home, and now she relaxes in the truck’s passenger seat. Absorbs the feel of the place mothering her. She may fail in so many ways, but her body can remember these pleasures. Already, the island brings relief. It couldn’t have come fast enough. She’s missed the house where Olivia raised her. Olivia making Gullah rice in the kitchen, a mess of sausage and chili powder staining the counter red. Olivia bringing home work from her shop, threading charms from the den’s coral couch. Olivia disappearing around a corner, the flutter of pastel caftans over her dark arms as she called back: “I chose you, yeah child? So if you’re crying about some dance lesson ya want to take, I guess I chose your whining too. You’ll have it if it’s important to ya.” Not that she’d known sadness then. After turning eighteen, [End Page 582] she’d watched Olivia sink into the silence of brain tumors. She’d inherited Olivia’s savings and the house, cut fresh with death. Then fled St. Simons for college in Orlando, where she danced and met Dev and buried her grief in a new life. They’d studied at the library and shared breakfast at his uncle’s construction site, swapping stories. The eighteen-wheeler that, after crossing the median, blasted his family from the earth. Her childhood with Olivia, so lovely she didn’t mind that she couldn’t remember her first foster homes. She and Dev had married after graduation. Two people riddled with loss. Dev approaches her window. Raps it with his knuckles. She rolls it down, letting in the June smell of the Georgia coast, stickier than Florida’s. “You’ll stay in while I walk around back?” he says, worry weighing down his face. He thinks so much can go wrong here — wandering men squatting on the back porch, wild animals lurking at the lawn’s edges — believing death is always coming for someone he loves. “I’m good,” she says. True for the first time in a while. She watches him turn away, his bunned afro and cargo shorts and work boots disappearing around the house’s blue side. After a few weeks here, she’ll make her body hers. In January, her hips went weak. Pain streaking from her raised thigh all the way down her legs. A fluke, she’d thought, until every movement became less precise, the pain rippling through her pelvis. Until the director’s eyes measured her. Dev’s too, as he watched rehearsal one evening, early to collect her from the theater. “What’s the point in pretending it doesn’t hurt?” he’d asked when they got home. “Sacrifice for what you love, I guess.” She shrugged off her coat. “Well, don’t.” When she froze, he added: “I mean, doctors helped the first time around, right?” [End Page 583] “I guess,” she said. But she crushed her coat against her belly. Went into the bedroom. “What?” he asked, following. “What?” The implication too much: Sex used to hurt you too. And you got treatment for that. Only she hadn’t. After the doctors failed to treat her during those college years, the pain striking her whenever Dev pushed in, she’d lied, loving him, and said sex felt good. Part of the way she’d clung to him then. And so did this mean this painful change in her dancing would persist too? “I’ve — never taken care of it,” she said. “It’s never really gone away.” “Never?” he’d asked. Then again. He let go of her wrists. “This whole time?” They’d both needed space. Him to deal with her lying. Her to heal herself — from dance and sex — without the pressure of his presence. Not that moving out helped. She’d traded their life for...

Shorter work boot shaft height improves ankle range of motion and decreases the oxygen cost of work

Work boots featuring design elements implemented to protect the foot and lower limb are common in many industries. However, boot design can have negative unintended consequences such as increases in work related fatigue and injury risk. This study compared joint kinematics and the physiological cost of two commercially available steel-toed work boots with different shaft designs worn throughout a simulated work task. A boot with a lower-cut and scalloped shaft allowed greater sagittal plane range of motion at the ankle joint compared to a boot with a higher-cut straight shaft, particularly in the late stance phase of the gait cycle. This was coupled with a decreased physiological cost of treadmill walking (2.6 and 3.1% improvement in oxygen consumption and walking economy, respectively), likely caused by a more efficient gait pattern. A lower-cut and scalloped shaft could lead to decreases in work-related fatigue and the subsequent risk of injuries in workers. Practitioner summary: Gait kinematics and the physiological cost of work boots with different shaft heights has not previously been investigated. A randomised cross-over study design found that a boot with a lower shaft height and scalloped collar improved ankle range of motion and reduced the physiological cost experienced by the wearers. Abbreviations: ROM: range of motion; FS: full shaft; SS: scalloped shaft; COM: centre of mass; HR: heart rate; RPE: rating of perceived exertion; ES: effect size.

Effects of Metatarsal Work Boots on Gait During Level and Inclined Walking.

Footwear plays an important role in worker safety. Work boots with safety toes are often utilized at mine sites to protect workers from hazards. Increasingly, mining operations require metatarsal guards in addition to safety toe protection in boots. While these guards provide additional protection, the impact of metatarsal guards on gait are unknown. This study aimed to measure the effects of 4 safety work boots, steel toe, and steel toe with metatarsal protection in wader- and hiker-style boots, on level and inclined walking gait characteristics, during ascent and descent. A total of 10 participants completed this study. A motion capture system measured kinematics that allowed for the calculation of key gait parameters. Results indicated that gait parameters changed due to incline, similar to previous literature. Wader-style work boots reduced ankle range of motion when ascending an incline. Hip, knee, and ankle ranges of motion were also reduced during descent for this style of boot. Wader-style boots with metatarsal guards led to the smallest ankle range of motion when descending an inclined walkway. From these results, it is likely that boot style affects gait parameters and may impact a miner's risk for slips, trips, or falls.

Chemistry spotted on more belt buckles and model trains, and fashion-forward work boots

Belt buckles, the sequel Back in January, the Newscripts gang wrote about its burgeoning chemical belt-buckle collection. These are belt buckles that chemical companies made to promote their busine...

Effect of shaft stiffness and sole flexibility on perceived comfort and the plantar pressures generated when walking on a simulated underground coal mining surface

The structural features of work boots worn by underground coal miners affect comfort, foot motion and, in turn, loading of the plantar surface of miners’ feet. Although shaft stiffness and sole flexibility appear to be boot design features that could influence perceived comfort and plantar pressures, no study has systematically altered these boot design features to truly understand how they affect these parameters. This study aimed to systematically investigate the effect of changes to shaft stiffness and sole flexibility on perceived comfort and plantar pressures when 20 males walked on a simulated gravel coal mining surface under four different work boot conditions. There were no significant effects of shaft stiffness or sole flexibility on perceived comfort. However, shaft stiffness and sole flexibility each significantly affected the plantar pressures generated under the medial midfoot, heel, middle metatarsals and hallux and, in combination, affected plantar pressures generated beneath the lateral midfoot, medial and lateral metatarsals and lesser toes. Participants preferred a boot with a flexible shaft combined with a stiff sole, citing properties such as fit, moveability, walking effort and support to explain why they perceived one boot as more comfortable than another. We therefore recommend that underground coal mining work boots should be designed to incorporate different flexibility and stiffness between the shaft and sole of the boot to optimise foot movement and, in turn, walking efficiency.

Overdue

Overdue Gwen Mullins (bio) You were conceived on the floor of the public library. I never told you that, did I? I know children don't like to think of their parents having relations, much less grabbing at each other on shoe-streaked floors, books in thick plastic bindings smelling like dust and promise stacked all around, their momma's yellow cotton panties circling one ankle and their daddy's blue jeans snagged on his work boots while he pumps away. Not exactly a story you tell your kids, is it, Ladybug? But you're twenty-five, older than I was when you came into the world, and I guess the truth can't do you any harm, given where we are. When you wake up, you can tell me if you remember. I expect where you are right now is like a dream, like when you were little and you'd fall asleep while I read you a story. You'd wake up and tell me you dreamed about a goat crossing a bridge, or girl who sold matches, or a boy who colored the world purple, just like if the story and the dream got all mixed up together while you slept. You understand when I say your daddy I mean Jamal, not Gerald, don't you? I know Gerald's your real daddy—he's the one who helped raise you, the one who took on extra work so you could have pretty yellow dresses and go to that cute college where the trees were covered in all that drippy Spanish moss. But sometimes I think about your other daddy, your first daddy, the one who I always knew would disappear as soon as he figured out what it meant to be a man who stayed, a man who stuck it out. Honey, let me tell you what I shoulda known, before Jamal turned my head so far I thought it would spin plumb around, what I tried to explain to you about that boy you thought you loved. There are stick-it-out men and there are turn-your-head men. I never heard of a man who was both, unless he was in one of those Tyler Perry movies, or maybe in one of those Nicholas Sparks's books the white ladies are always crying over. Jamal never was a stick-it-out sort of man, but he sure turned heads. My head—you're proof enough of that. I think your Auntie Patrice's head got turned too, even though she never admitted it. From what I heard, he even caught the attention a' some of those white girls, and not just the thick ones, either. Skinny yellow-haired things, showing him off like he was their dark-skinned trophy. Probably trying to piss off they daddies, but maybe not. I guess I sound jealous. I'm not, don't you worry. Not for a long time now. Your daddy Jamal used to come in after his shift at the microwave plant to check out books on engineering and aviation. He never turned his books back in on time, but he would always smile and linger at my desk until I let him check out another one, then one more, even though I knew his overdue fees kept adding up. He said he needed those books because he wanted to be a pilot, wanted to fly through the clear blue sky above all of the BS on the ground. When I said most pilots I'd heard of learned to fly in the military, he just laughed. Oh, when he laughed you couldn't help but laugh with him. He had one tooth with a tiny chip missing—he looked like a wolf howling at the moon. I'm not the military type, he said. And he wasn't, I could see that. He hated when people told him what to do, even his boss. Or me. I shoulda known better than to let him get away with some [End Page 57] of the things he'd do. I shoulda seen the signs, but then I wouldn't have you, now would I? I...

Impact of occupational footwear and workload on postural stability in work safety.

The impact of occupational footwear and workload on postural stability has been studied previously to prevent fall-related workplace injuries. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of two types of occupational footwear [steel-toed (SB) and tactical (TB) work boots] on human balance, when exposed to physical workload. Postural stability was evaluated in eighteen male participants in the following conditions: eyes open (EO), eyes closed (EC), eyes open unstable surface (EOU) and eyes closed unstable surface (ECU). Postural sway parameters were analyzed using a 2×3 repeated measures analysis of variance design [prior to (PRE) and twice post-workload (POST1 & POST2) separated by 10 minutes of rest]. Findings revealed that the use of SB resulted in greater postural stability, which could be attributed to the design characteristics of these footwear and that postural stability was negatively impacted immediately after the workload which could be attributed to the physical exertions during the workload. However, significant differences were limited to ECU with no visual and altered somatosensory feedback. Design features on occupational footwear can aid postural stability while physical exertional tasks can be detrimental. Findings can offer design and work-rest scheduling suggestions to improve work safety.

Injury rate and risk factors among small-scale gold miners in Ghana

BackgroundTo determine the potential risk factors for injury, estimate the annual injury rate and examine the safety perceptions, and use of personal protective equipment among small-scale gold miners in Ghana.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was carried out with 494 small-scale gold miners from four major mining districts in Ghana. A household-based approach was used to obtain a representative sample of miners. The study was conducted from June 2015 to August 2016. A systematic sampling technique was used to select households and recruit respondents to interview. Miners were asked about any mining related injury that they had sustained in the past year. A logistics regression model was employed to examine the association between risk factors and injury. Data were analyzed with STATA version 14.0.ResultsThe annual incidence rate of mining-related injury was 289 per 1000 workers. Injuries were mainly caused by machinery/tools 66(46.1%), followed by slip/falls 46(32.2%). The major risk factor for injury was underground work (adjusted odds ratio for injury 3.19; 95% CI = 1.42–7.20) compared with surface work. Higher education levels were protective, with adjusted odds ratios of 0.48 (95% CI = 0.24–0.99) for middle school education and 0.38 (95% CI 0.17–0.83) for secondary school compared with no schooling. Only 15(3.0%) of miners reported to have had safety training in the past year and 105(21.3%) indicated that there were safety regulations at their work place. A moderate number of workers reported using work boots 178(36.0%) and hand gloves 134(27.1%), but less than 10% of workers used other personal protective equipment.ConclusionThe annual injury incidence rate among small-scale gold miners is high. Potential targets for improving safety include increasing safety training, increasing use of personal protective equipment, and better understanding potential changes that can be made in the machinery and tools used in small-scale mining, which were associated with almost half of all injuries.

Environmental distribution of Porcine Circovirus Type 2 (PCV2) in swine herds with natural infection

Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the aetiological agent of PCV2-Systemic Disease (PCV2-SD) and PCV2-Subclinical Infection (PCV2-SI). PCV2 is highly resistant to environmental conditions, being able to remain in the farm environment and thus represent a risk for infection maintenance. The aim of this study was to identify, under field conditions, the possible critical points in the environment of non-vaccinated farrow-to-weaning swine farms where PCV2 could accumulate and persist. For that, environmental samples from five swine farms with PCV2-SD or PCV2-SI were taken and analysed by qPCR, including different farm areas, farm personnel and management implements. PCV2 DNA was detected in the environment of all farms (42.9% of positive samples). Overall, the PCV2-SD herd seemed to present more positive samples and higher viral loads than the PCV2-SI herds. At individual farm level, weaning areas appeared to be the most contaminated facilities. In addition, PCV2 was found at high levels in most samples from farm workers, especially work boots, suggesting that they may play a role in within-farm transmission. In addition, PCV2 was detected in areas without animals the like warehouses, offices and farm perimeter. Therefore, this study is helpful to improve measures to reduce within-farm PCV2 dissemination.