Author of Response: Gary K. Felton, Associate Professor, Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, gfelton@umd.edu

Response: In the presence of current strains of avian influenza (AI), only long-term close contact creates a condition where AI can be communicated across species (Perdue and Swayne, 2005). (This is the kind of contact that comes from the chickens living in the same house as the people that have contracted AI in southeast Asia.) Should that change, there will be tremendous publicity about AI, and you will know about it. At that point, it is likely that inspections would be suspended until health officials could determine a safe procedure. Other pathogens associated with poultry do not currently show signs of transfer to humans.

All that said, you should consider wearing a dust mask inside a poultry house to keep the dust and ammonia out of your respiratory tract. Dust is an irritant, and if the dust includes poultry secretions, feces, and excretions, then the dust may become a transmission vector for AI. Ammonia is an irritant that can change the pH of the respiratory system linings. These irritants may create a weakened resistance to other incidental infections.