BACKGROUND Greenhouse workers are exposed to organic dusts, and they are thereby at risk of developing airway disorders. This study aims to measure personal endotoxin exposure, assess respiratory symptoms and measure fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) among female flower farm workers in Ethiopia. METHODS A cross-sectional study involving female workers (n = 248) from four flower farms was...

Agricultural workers have higher rates of long-term sick leave associated with respiratory disease than any other worker groups. There is currently no published data on the extent to which Irish agricultural workers are exposed to occupational respiratory hazards. This investigation focused on Irish swine farm workers in concentrated animal feeding operations and measured their occupational exp...

If farmers are risk averse, greater farm income variability should increase off-farm labor supply. This effect is confirmed for a sample of Kansas farmers. Off-farm employment of farmers and their spouses is also found to be significantly influenced by farm experience, off-farm work experience, farm size, leverage, efficiency, and farm-specific education. In addition, farm operators and spouses...

Thresher Editorial Staff "Actions speak louder than words," they say, and if the actions of the vegetable growers of the lower Rio Grande Valley are any indication, there is a harsh and cruel injustice being perpetrated upon nearly 200,000 of our fellow Texans. Working in an industry, agriculture, which is not construed as interstate commerce in the eyes of Texas law, the workers have only a tw...

On 26 July, 1994, the local agricultural employment office notified the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Health Unit that a member of a work crew had suffered diarrheal illness following employment at a turkey farm on 18 July. The employment office also reported that two members from the same crew had been unable to work because of illness. Given this information, the Health Unit requested a list of ...

BACKGROUND A majority of published studies indicate that farmers have an elevated risk of developing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) compared to other workers. METHODS We evaluated accidental exposure to pesticides, the use of personal protective equipment, and exposure to animals among male farm residents in a Canadian population-based, multi-centre, NHL-control questionnaire study. RESULTS I...

An influenza A virus (H3N2) of probable swine origin, designated A/Canada/1158/2006, was isolated from a 7-month-old hospitalized child who lived on a communal farm in Canada. The child recovered uneventfully. A serosurvey that used a hemagglutination-inhibition assay for A/Canada/1158/2006 was conducted on 54 of the 90 members of the farm. Seropositivity was demonstrated in the index patient, ...

Broiler Performance Efciency Factor (BPEF) isa smart and comprehensive indicator to assessthe performance of broilers. Batch wise datawere recorded from commercial broiler farmslocated in the hot and cold climatic zones inindustrial broiler production areas and analyzedfor its mean BPEF performance. The mean oorspace allowance, stocking density recorded in ...

BACKGROUND Heat illness is a major cause of preventable morbidity worldwide. Workers exposed to intense heat can become unable to activate compensation mechanisms, putting their health at risk. Heat stress also has a direct impact on production by causing poor task performance and it increases the possibility of work-related morbidity and injuries. During the sugarcane harvest period, workers a...