Staphylococci as an Indicator for Bacterial Emissions from a Broiler House

Introduction The air of animal houses contains bioaerosols like viruses bacteria, fungi, endotoxins and allergens that present a health risk for humans and animals [1]. Airborne pathogen bacteria, fungi that cause allergies and endotoxins were detected in poultry houses [2]. The spreading of bioaerosol emissions from poultry houses is less understood and therefore it is difficult to estimate the health risk on humans and animals caused by this emissions. A possibility to show the distribution of bioaerosols originating from the air of these livestock buildings is to use viable indicator bacteria. These bacteria need a sufficient survival time in the airborne state and should reach high emission rates because the detection of these organisms in longer distances downwind of the animal house depends on their source strength [3, 4]. Bacteria that possess these characteristics are staphylococci. Staphylococci are commensales of the skin of poultry. Pathogenic and non pathogenic species were isolated from the skin and the nasal passages of the birds. Skin debris, broken feather barbules and particles from litter and faeces are dust compounds in poultry houses [2] to which the staphylococci can become attached. Staphylococci were the predominant airborne bacteria and the most present genus in airborne dust of broiler houses. The objectives of this study were to quantify and to identify airborne staphylococci in the air of a Louisiana type broiler barn holding initially 40.000 broilers on litter and to estimate the travelling distance of these bacteria in the ambient air downwind the building.