Study Shows Central Wisconsin Dairy Farmers Share Same Micro Organisms as Their Cows

Friday, April 12th, 2024 -- 11:00 AM

(Wisconsin Ag Connection) Central Wisconsin dairy farmers shared many of the same microscopic organisms as their cows that may lead to greater protection against illnesses like allergic rhinitis, asthma, eczema and diarrheal diseases, according to a study led by Marshfield Clinic Research Institute.

According to the Wisconsin Ag Connection, Marshfield Clinic Health System researchers collaborated with the Washington University School of Medicine to publish one of the largest studies of its kind in the April issue of Nature Microbiology on the health of dairy workers from occupational exposure to cow and manure-related microbiome.

Microbiome is the collection of all microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their genes that naturally live in human body or an environment. The published study, “Longitudinal dynamics of farmer and livestock nasal and fecal microbiome and resistomes,” shows that farming is associated with microbiomes containing livestock-associated microbes.

This is most apparent in the nasal bacterial community, with farmers harboring a richer and more diverse nasal community than non-farmers. Similarly, in the gut microbial communities, researchers identified more shared microbial lineages between cows and farmers from the same farms.

Additionally, they found that shared microbes are associated with antibiotic resistance genes. “Overall, our study demonstrates the interconnectedness of human and animal microbiomes,” said Sanjay Shukla, Ph.D., director of the Center for Precision Medicine Research at Marshfield Clinic Research Institute.

“It is increasing evident that billions of microbes that inhabit the human gut, which includes the stomach, intestines and colon, have tremendous opportunity to influence the health of a person.”

Globally, half a billion people are employed in animal agriculture and are directly exposed to associated microorganisms. The extent to which such exposures affect resident human microbiomes is unclear. The goal of the study was to investigate the effect of dairy microbiome environment on the gastrointestinal and flu-like related health issues of dairy farmers.

Researchers conducted a longitudinal profiling of the nasal and fecal microbiomes of 66 dairy farmers and 166 dairy cows from 37 central Wisconsin dairy farms, ranging in size from 24 to 1,700 milking cows over a year-long period.

The farmers’ microbiomes were compared to matched healthy human subject controls from the same zip codes whom researchers collected their stool and nasal swab samples every three months over a three-year period.

This in-depth study showed that the farmer nasal microbiome, although distinct, was very similar to the nasal microbiome of cows but very different from the non-farmer control subjects. This similarity was observed despite the cow nasal microbiome was richer in diversity.

Also, there was a shared microbiome architecture between the cows and the farmers even from different dairy farms suggesting selection of a unique microbiota in dairy environments. The sharing of the microbes in nasal passages was due to the occupational exposure of the dairy environment.

Not surprisingly, there was a higher sharing of bacterial lineages within in a farm between the dairy farmers and cows than a different farm suggesting the effect of cohabitation and the livestock driving the sharing.

Dairy farmers nasal microbiome samples were enriched with bacteria belonging to families Lactobacillaceae, Aerococcaceae and Enterococcaceae which are known to provide a barrier to sinus infections.

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