Can an exit shower reduce what swine workers carry on their skin?
In ten swine workers, the skin microbiome shifted markedly during the workday and the exit shower partially reversed those changes.
In ten swine workers, the skin microbiome shifted markedly during the workday and the exit shower partially reversed those changes.
Problem: Daily work with pigs exposes employees to animal- and farm-associated microorganisms, but the effect of biosecurity procedures on this exposure is poorly characterized.
Methods: Ten workers at a commercial 3,500-sow farm were followed through an eight-hour workday with skin sampling before work, before the exit shower, and after showering, combined with microbiome and metagenomic analyses.
1. Skin microbiome composition changed significantly between the start of work and the end of work before showering (R²=22.0%, adjusted p=0.004).
2. After the exit shower, composition shifted again relative to the pre-shower sample (R²=18.6%, adjusted p=0.004), demonstrating a measurable effect of the biosecurity intervention.
3. Showering partially returned the microbiome and resistome toward baseline, although this small study did not measure clinical health consequences in workers.
Original publication
Slizovskiy IB, Gaire TN, Ferm PM, et al. Reducing skin microbiome exposure impacts through swine farm biosecurity. GigaScience. 2025;14:giaf062.