Abstract
The main goal of this preliminary study was to quantify airborne particles and characterize the dominant cultivable bacterial species as well as some Gram-positive species, and their antibiotic resistance pattern, from environmental samples taken inside and outside of a dairy milking parlour. Sampling was performed over 2 days, in different seasons. The small viable particulate matter < 10 μm (bioaerosols) and cultivable bacteria reached their highest concentrations in the milking parlour. The majority of airborne bacteria in the milking parlour belonged to the genera Staphylococcus (41.9%) and Bacillus (20.9%). A total of 32 different bacterial species of Staphylococcus, Aerococcus, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Serratia and Acinetobacter were identified. Many of these bacteria may be opportunistic pathogens, causing disease in humans or animals. We found low levels of acquired resistance to the antibiotics commonly used in human or animal infections caused by these opportunistic bacteria. More specifically, resistance to tetracyclines (13.4%), penicillin G (13.4%) and macrolides (7.5%) was identified in Staphylococcus sp. as was a methicillin-resistant S. hominis and resistance to spiramycin (n = 1), lincomycin (n = 1) and streptomycin (n = 2) in Aerococcus sp. An assessment of the occupational risk run by dairy farmers for contracting infections after long- or short-term exposure to micro-organisms requires further studies on the concentration of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria in dairy farm environments.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the dairy farmer and the veterinary that helped us to perform the sampling and to ensure cow health. The authors would like to thank the farmer Mr. Bergeon André who devoted her time to perform this study and the Dr. Veterinary Claire A.M. Becker, Associate Professor, VetAgro Sup, Université de Lyon.
Funding
Each partner (Anses Lyon (antimicrobial analysis, isolation of strains), IMT Mines Alès, Inrae (air sampling) and International Center for Infectiology Research (characterization of isolated strains) provided funds to perform this work.
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The work contribution was identification and numeration of bacterial species (Antoine Drapeau, Véronique Metayer, Frederic Laurent), analysis of bioaerosol and air borne micro-organisms data (Sandrine Bayle and Janick Rocher), design of the experimental study (Charlotte Valat and Sandrine Bayle), air sampling (Antoine Drapeau, Sandrine Bayle and Charlotte Valat), analysis of antimicrobial data (Marisa Haenni, Charlotte Valat, Antoine Drapeau and Jean-Yves Madec) and analysis of pathogen bacteria (Charlotte Valat and Frederic Laurent).
Charlotte Valat and Sandrine Bayle written the draft of the article, and all the authors have corrected the manuscript.
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We report data on the exposure of dairy farmers to airborne bacteria found in a milking parlour, and those are potentially opportunistic pathogens or resistant to antibiotics.
High concentrations of cultivable bacteria were found in the milking parlour, and there were significant differences in the bacterial diversity between indoor and outdoor environments.
Most of these bacteria were opportunistic pathogens and had low levels of acquired resistance. However, resistance to tetracyclines, penicillin G and macrolides was identified in Staphylococcus sp., and a methicillin-resistant S. hominis was observed.
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Bayle, S., Drapeau, A., Rocher, J. et al. Characterization of cultivable airborne bacteria and their antimicrobial resistance pattern in French milking parlour. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 11689–11696 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11974-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11974-8