Abstract: Farmers are known to be at high risk from the development of occupational
airway disease. The first stage of the European farmers’ study has shown that pig
farmers in Denmark and Germany, poultry farmers in Switzerland and greenhouse
workers in Spain were at highest risk for work-related respiratory symptoms. Therefore,
the aim of this study was to determine exposure levels at relevant farm workplaces.
Dust and endotoxin levels as well as microbiological concentrations were determined in
213 crop and animal farming environments by personal sampling. The highest total dust
concentrations were found in poultry houses in Switzerland with median concentrations
of 7.01 mg/m3
. The median airborne endotoxin concentrations in total dust ranged between
0.36 ng/m3
in Spanish greenhouses and 257.58 ng/m3
in poultry houses in Switzerland.
Likewise, the highest median concentrations of total (2.0 × 107
cells/m3
) and active fungi
(4.4 × 105
cfu/m3
) have been found in Swiss poultry houses. The predominant fungus taxa
discovered in poultry houses were Eurotium spp. and thermophilic fungi. Cladosporium
and Botrytis were mainly detected in greenhouses. The exposure level found in this
study might put the farmers at risk from respiratory diseases