Bacterial plume emanating from the air surrounding swine confinement operations. uri icon

abstract

  • The objective of this study was to evaluate the levels of bacteria in the air plume immediately upwind at 25 m and downwind at locations 25 m, 50 m, 100 m, and 150 m from a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). It was hypothesized that this would give insight into determining the maximal distance that bacterial organisms release from a CAFO could travel, which would be important in determining the optimal siting distance for future CAFO in relation to high population areas. The Andersen two-stage sampler was used to collect all of the bacterial samples from the animal confinement facilities. The data show a marked increase in bacterial CFUs/m3 inside the facility (18,132 CFU/m3 average) versus upwind (63 CFU/m3 average) anda steady down wind decrease out to approximately 150 m. Staphylococcus aureus was found to account for 76% of the organisms recovered. We conclude that the optimal placement of a swine CAFO would be at least 200 m from a residential area.

published proceedings

  • J Occup Environ Hyg

altmetric score

  • 9

author list (cited authors)

  • Green, C. F., Gibbs, S. G., Tarwater, P. M., Mota, L. C., & Scarpino, P. V.

citation count

  • 36

complete list of authors

  • Green, Christopher F||Gibbs, Shawn G||Tarwater, Patrick M||Mota, Linda C||Scarpino, Pasquale V

publication date

  • January 2006