Epidemiological characteristics of live poultry markets and poultry related workers in Nanchang

Objective To understand epidemiological characteristics of live poultry markets (LPMs) and related workers, and the contamination status of LPMs in Nanchang. Methods LPMs and poultry related workers were randomly selected as study subjects by using Probability-Proportional-to-Size Sampling. Self-designed questionnaires were used to collect information of LPMs and poultry related workers. Sewage, poultry fresh feces and smears of poultry cage samples were collected to detect subtypes of avian influenza viruses using real-time RT-PCR. Results A total of 76 LPMs and 390 poultry workers were investigated. Of total LPMs, 55.26% (42/76) were cleaned every day, 76.32% (58/76) were sterilized at least one time per week, only two rested for one day per month, 97.37% (74/76) slaughtered poultry and 69.74% (53/76) kept live poultry overnight in markets. The median cumulative time of poultry workers' exposure to live poultry was 13.00 years (inter-quartile range: 6.12 to 20.00 years). Of the 390 poultry workers, 72.56% reported their exposure to live poultry through slaughtering and 55.90% through sale, and 11.79% reported having direct contact with sick or dead poultry recently. 474 environment samples were collected from LPMs. Of these, 75 were positive for influenza A virus, with an overall positive rate of 15.82%. Among these 75 positive samples, 44, 16, 11 and 2 were positive for H9, H5, H7 and H10, respectively. Conclusions The avian influenza control measures were insufficient in LPMs, which were heavily contaminated in Nanchang. Further management of the LPMs should be employed to reduce the infection risk of avian influenza virus for live poultry workers and customers visiting LPMs.