Author: Jeanette Thurston-Enriquez, USDA Agricultural Research Service scientist, jthurston2@unl.edu
More research needs to be done on aerial transmission of pathogens. In one study, nucleic acid of bacterial pathogens was detected 81 m (266 ft) downwind of livestock wastewater center pivot irrigation. The risk to someone walking downwind of a site like this is not well understood, but you need to remember that exposure to pathogens does not necessarily result in illness. Coming in contact with a pathogen or even inhaling a pathogen does not guarantee that you will get sick. For example, enteric pathogens need to reach a susceptible person's gastrointestinal tract (fecal-oral route) in sufficient numbers to cause illness. No one has really looked at a relationship between odor and pathogen occurrence or transport to our knowledge. However, it is unlikely that pathogens and odors are correlated. The microorganisms that cause odors are usually non-pathogenic.
Additional reading:
Dr. Thurston-Enriquez. "Pathogens in Animal Manure-Should We Be Concerned? Part 1"
