Emerging infectious diseases among swine workers

In the last years emerging infections represent an important problem of public health and occupational medicine. Biological agents and their hosts exist in a precariously balanced and continuously evolving relationship, influenced by their environment. RNA viruses are responsible for most of the emerging diseases. Epidemics that recently affected the world of work are zoonoses, such as cases of SARS in healthcare staff Dutch poultry workers infected with the avian virus A/H7N7 in 2003, the current threat of avian flu A/H5N1 to poultry workers. Workers at risk include those who are in contact with live or dead infected animals, with aerosols, dust or surfaces contaminated by animal secretions, persons engaged in animal breeding and trade, veterinaries, and others. Pigs are at risk of acquiring many viral and bacterial diseases and, consequently, could be able to transmit some of these infections to occupationally exposed subjects. The aim of our study is to set out some emerging zoonosis that could affect swine workers, an occupational sector where a proper assessment of biological risks is difficult to perform.