Intensive livestock farming promotes disease transmission
“Intensive livestock farming can promote disease transmission through environmental pathways
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Ventilation systems expel material, including pathogens such as Campylobacter and avian influenza virus, into the environment, increasing risk of transmission to wild and domestic animals
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Large quantities of waste are produced that contain a variety of pathogens capable of survival for several months if left untreated
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Much of the waste is spread on land, where it can come into contact with wild animals and contaminate water. Similarly, use of animal waste in aquaculture leads to potential contact with wild birds”.
🔗 Source: Zoonosis emergence linked to agricultural intensification and environmental change
Living near a farm is bad for your health
“New scientific evidence shows an association with increased human health issues in both farmers and neighboring populations”
🔗 Source: Is Living Near a Farm Bad for Your Health? A recent commentary in GeoHealth highlighted the health risks for people living close to large-scale livestock farms.
And larger farms cause greater harm
Farms are necessitated to increase in size to stay ‘economic’ and with that increase in size comes myriad harms to human health from air pollution alone.
🔗 Source: Impacts of Intensive Livestock Production on Human Health in Densely Populated Regions
“farms expanded rapidly in the last few decades, but their potential impact on neighboring residents' health has hardly been accompanied by any research In our commentary, we argue that the current situation in densely populated livestock farming areas could be regarded as a “natural experiment,” with residents being exposed to potentially harmful bacteria, viruses, and air pollutants It is less well known that people living close to livestock farms are also exposed to air pollutants that may affect the airways, such as fine dust and ammonia Recent studies have shown that air pollution from livestock farms is associated with a worsening in lung function”
The report continues
“Air quality is diminished in livestock farming areas, due to emissions of both coarse and fine particles, particles,( gases, and endotoxin, the major component of the outer membrane of Gram negative bacteria Potentially pathogenic viruses and bacteria, and antimicrobial resistant ( bacteria can also be found in airborne particulate matter ( surrounding livestock farms (de Rooij et al 2016 McEachran et al 2015 Ssematimba et al 2012 Health Effects From Livestock Related Air Pollution Potential health effects from farm emissions are equally diverse and include zoonotic infections, infections with AMR bacteria, and respiratory disorders”
and the report continues
“Within the One Health concept, the multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to address potential or existing risks that originate at the animal human environment interface Coker et al 2011 One Health Initiative, 2017 most research initiatives have focused on zoonotic infections and emerging antimicrobial resistance as a potential threat to both human and animal health However, a series of recent studies on air pollutant emissions from agriculture emphasize the environmental health risks posed by noninfectious farm emissions Lelieveld et al showed that agriculture has a remarkably large impact on PM air pollution related mortality, and is even the leading source category in Europe, Russia, Turkey, Korea, Japan, and the Eastern USA (Lelieveld et al 2015 Living near a large number of livestock farms is associated with an increased risk of airway obstruction (Borlée et al 2017 Radon et al 2007 Furthermore, higher ammonia concentrations in the air are associated with acute deficits in lung function in adults and asthmatic children living in livestock dense areas (Borlée et al 2017 Loftus et al 2015 Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( living near livestock farms report more symptoms and are more often diagnosed with an exacerbation than patients living further away from farms (Borlée et al 2015 van Dijk et al 2016)
Focus on pneumonia
“The incidence of pneumonia is also found to be increased in livestock dense areas, especially near goat and poultry farms Beninca et al 2017 Freidl et al 2017 Smit et al 2017 van Dijk et al 2017 Since there is no evidence of zoonotic pathogens playing a role, except during outbreak situations (Huijskens et al 2016 we hypothesized that endotoxin and other farm related air pollutants may predispose to respiratory infections through chronic airway inflammation and subsequent host immune responses In hospitalized pneumonia patients living close to poultry farms, the abundance of Streptococcus pneumoniae not a zoonotic pathogen in the upper airway microbiome was increased, suggesting a role for noninfectious air pollutant emissions (Smit et al 2017 a hypothesis supported by a growing number of experimental studies (Poroyko et al 2015 Rylance et al 2015)”
and Q Fever
The report continues
”Risk of Zoonotic Infections The importance of zoonotic infections is increasingly recognized, not in the least because the implications of an outbreak can be far reaching Between 2007 and 2010 an unprecedented outbreak of Q fever, a zoonosis caused by Coxiella burnetii occurred in the Netherlands with more than 4 000 human cases (Dijkstra et al 2012) showing that the risk of resurgence or emergence and spread of zoonotic infections among the general population is more than theoretical Dairy goat farms with C burnetii induced abortions were implicated as the major source of infection in the neighboring human population C burnetii is transmitted primarily through contaminated air, and people living several kilometers from an infected farm were still at increased risk of Q fever In 2012 the epidemic was declared ended, most likely as a consequence of implemented control measures, including culling of pregnant animals and compulsory vaccination, in combination with a rise in seroprevalence in the human population (Van den Brom et al 2015)”
🔗 Source: Impacts of Intensive Livestock Production on Human Health in Densely Populated Regions
DEFRA assessment of air pollution from animal agriculture limited to ammonia emissions
–“87% of UK ammonia emissions , mainly from livestock farming, affects human health”
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