Dairy Worker Infection Prevention Knowledge, Beliefs, and Behaviors

Recent outbreaks of infectious diseases on dairy farms, with workers becoming ill, have focused attention on the potential for zoonotic disease transmission of pathogens between animals and humans in dairy production. While many dairy farms have a biosecurity plan and protocols in place to reduce the possibility of cow-cow transmission of pathogens such as foot-and-mouth disease, previous surveys have indicated that few farms have organized ongoing infection‑prevention programs to prevent the spread of infection to workers.

The purpose of the current study is to describe knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding infection control and prevention by job tasks among dairy workers and to assess the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on infection prevention behaviors. Study findings can inform research aimed at implementing sustainable infection control and prevention strategies on dairy farms.

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of baseline survey data from an observational study of dairy workers that began in 2017, with enrollment continuing through 2022. We restricted the analysis to dairy workers who had worked on a dairy farm for at least 6 months and who spoke Spanish or English. Bilingual study staff administered the questionnaires in Spanish or English based on the participants' preferred language. The survey questions included self-reported job tasks as well as reported use of preventive measures such as hand hygiene and personal protective equipment (PPE) on dairy farms. We calculated proportions of reported behaviors for different job tasks such as milking or herd health.

We found that a low level of concern about getting disease from animals or giving disease to animals was associated with lower odds of handwashing after glove use. Frequency of self-reported PPE use varied by task. Proportions of self-reported measures of handwashing were 20% or higher among participants whose data collection occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to participants whose data collection occurred before COVID-19. Conclusion: Efforts to increase infection prevention and control on dairy farms need to address workers' perceptions about the risk of pathogen transmission between workers and cows, since this appears to affect both PPE use and handwashing frequency.