Healthy Dairy Worker Longitudinal New Workers
Zoonotic diseases result from the spillover of pathogens from animal reservoirs to humans due to contact with animals or animal products. An estimated 60% of known infectious diseases and up to 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic in origin. Despite this, relatively little is known about the alterations to the human microbiome in persons with a high degree of close contact with animals on farms. These samples enable the study of which bacteria colonize the human gut after zoonotic exposure by surveying "new" dairy workers (those without prior employment in the animal husbandry industry) soon after they commence dairy work.