Pneumonia and intensive livestock farming

This study was conducted a few years after the Q-fever epidemic in The Netherlands, and included 2,494 participants aged 20-72.

“Residents within 2,000m of a farm with at least 50 goats had an increased risk of pneumonia, which increased the closer they lived to the farm.”

“When conducting [a specific type of analyses], we found a weak but statistically significant association with presence of a poultry farm within 1,000m.”

All in all, while recommending further research on the exact causes of pneumonia, “living close to goat and poultry farms still constitute risk factors for pneumonia.”