New Source of Air Pollution: Chickens

November 25, 2008

If you're like me, you probably prefer eating chickens to inhaling them. So here's a bit of science news to confirm our preference: A new study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health shows that just following a truck carrying live chickens can expose you to all sorts of evil germs. Here's some excerpts from the AIP blurb I just got:

The scientists, in a paper published in the Journal of Infection and Public Health, found "increased levels of pathogenic bacteria, both susceptible and drug-resistant, on surfaces and in the air inside cars traveling behind trucks that carry broiler chickens."  The researchers conducted the study on the Delmarva Peninsula, an Atlantic coastal region shared by Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.  It has a thriving poultry industry and one of the highest densities of broiler chickens per acre in the United States.

...For the Johns Hopkins study, biomedical researcher Ana Rule and her colleagues collected air and surface samples from cars driving two to three car lengths behind poultry trucks for a distance of 17 miles.   The cars were driven with the air conditioners and fans turned off and the windows open.  Samples then collected from inside the car showed increased concentrations of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains, that could be inhaled. Bacteria were also found on a soda can inside the car, and  on the outside door handle.

"Our study shows that there is a real exposure potential, especially during the summer months, when people are driving with the windows down," Rule said. "The summer is also a time of very heavy traffic in Delmarva by vacationers driving to the shore resorts."

Just one more reason to hitch a ride in a poultry truck -- so you're up-wind of the sickening slipstream.