Aceves M, Grimalt J O, Sunyer J, Anto J M, Reed C E
U. O. Environmental Control, Entitat Metropolitana de Barcelona, Spain.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1991 Jul;88(1):124-34. doi: 10.1016/0091-6749(91)90309-c.
From 1981 to 1987, 26 outbreaks of asthma have occurred in the city of Barcelona, Spain, affecting a total of 687 subjects and causing 1155 emergency room admissions. Assays of urban aerosols collected with high-volume samplers between October 1986 and May 1989 have indicated that soybean dust originating from harbor activities (and not traffic or industrial pollution) is the causal agent for these epidemics. Soybean particulates in the filters have been characterized from the composition of the alcohol fraction, namely, campesterol, stigmasterol, beta-sitosterol, n-triacontan-1-ol, and n-dotriacontan-1-ol, constituting a series of aerosol components correlated with the epidemiologic data. This result has also been confirmed by immunochemical assay of specific soybean allergens. The concentration of these sterols in the air corresponds to a 24-hour average level of soybean dust in the order of 25 micrograms/m3 on epidemic days. These results suggest the advisability of monitoring soybean dust in air particulates of populated areas surrounding soybean storage or processing plants. The techniques presented here afford a simple way for the recognition of soybean dust in aerosols containing high concentrations of organic pollutants of traffic or industrial origin.
1981年至1987年期间，西班牙巴塞罗那市发生了26起哮喘疫情，共有687人受影响，导致1155人次急诊入院。1986年10月至1989年5月期间，用大容量采样器收集的城市气溶胶检测表明，源自港口活动（而非交通或工业污染）的大豆粉尘是这些疫情的致病因素。已根据醇馏分的成分对过滤器中的大豆颗粒进行了表征，即菜油甾醇、豆甾醇、β-谷甾醇、正三十烷-1-醇和正三十二烷-1-醇，构成了一系列与流行病学数据相关的气溶胶成分。这一结果也通过特定大豆过敏原的免疫化学检测得到了证实。在疫情期间，空气中这些甾醇的浓度对应于大豆粉尘24小时平均水平，约为25微克/立方米。这些结果表明，对大豆储存或加工厂周边人口密集地区空气中的大豆粉尘进行监测是可取的。本文介绍的技术为识别含有高浓度交通或工业源有机污染物的气溶胶中的大豆粉尘提供了一种简单方法。
