Human–livestock contacts and their relationship to transmission of zoonotic pathogens, a systematic review of literature

Klous, Gijs; Huss, Anke; Heederik, Dick J.J.; Coutinho, Roel A.

The most relevant observations in this occupational group are the exposure-response relationships for micro-organism carriage or transmission found in slaughterhouse personnel, in particular those individuals in close contact with live animals [21] [22] [23] [24] . Four reports, three addressing MRSA and one C. psittaci, in both pig and poultry slaughterhouses, demonstrated clear relationships between the position of the workers on the slaughter line and carriage of micro-organisms or occurrence of disease [21] [22] [23] [24] . This was supported by evidence for both temporal and spatial variations for micro-organism levels in air, on gloves and surface contamination. Temporal, because during the day an increase of MRSA and C. psittaci environmental levels were shown [22, 24] . Spatial, because people at the start of the slaughter line working with live animals, were more often found to be carriers of MRSA, compared to people only working with carcasses [21] [22] [23] [24] .