Basinas Ioannis, Sigsgaard Torben, Heederik Dick, Takai Hisamitsu, Omland Øyvind, Andersen Nils T, Wouters Inge M, Bønløkke Jakob H, Kromhout Hans, Schlünssen Vivi
Department of Environmental & Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 2, bg 1260, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
J Environ Monit. 2012 Feb;14(2):604-14. doi: 10.1039/c1em10576k. Epub 2011 Dec 9.
Studies on personal dust and endotoxin concentrations among animal farmers have been either small or limited to a few sectors in their investigations. The present study aimed to provide comparable information on the levels and variability of exposure to personal dust and endotoxin in different types of animal farmers. 507 personal inhalable dust samples were collected from 327 farmers employed in 54 pig, 26 dairy, 3 poultry, and 3 mink farms in Denmark. Measurements in pig and dairy farmers were full-shift and performed during summer and winter, while poultry and mink farmers were monitored during 4 well-defined production stages. The collected samples were measured for dust gravimetrically and analyzed for endotoxin by the Limulus amebocyte lysate assay. Simple statistics and random-effect analysis were used to describe the levels and the variability in measured dust and endotoxin exposure concentrations. Measured inhalable dust levels had an overall geometric mean of 2.5 mg m(-3) (range <LOD to 47.8) and endotoxin of 988 EU m(-3) (range <LOD to 374,000). The highest dust and endotoxin concentrations were measured among pig and poultry farmers, and were the lowest among dairy and mink farmers, respectively. Exposure among pig and cattle farmers was characterised by a substantial day-to-day variability that increased from the indoor to outdoor working environment. Only mink farmers complied with the Danish occupational exposure limit for total dust (3 mg m(-3)). More than 93% of our measurements exceeded the recently proposed Dutch exposure-limit for endotoxin (90 EU m(-3)). These findings suggest animal farmers to be exposed to high levels of dust and endotoxin consistent with an increased risk of developing respiratory symptoms and diseases. The development of preventive strategies to reduce exposure will require in-depth identification of factors that affect day-to-day variability in exposure.
针对养殖动物的农民个人粉尘和内毒素浓度的研究规模较小，或者在调查中仅限于少数几个领域。本研究旨在提供不同类型养殖动物的农民个人粉尘和内毒素暴露水平及变异性的可比信息。从丹麦54个养猪场、26个奶牛场、3个家禽场和3个水貂养殖场的327名农民中采集了507份个人可吸入粉尘样本。对养猪和养奶牛的农民进行了全时段测量，且在夏季和冬季进行，而对家禽和水貂养殖户则在4个明确的生产阶段进行监测。对采集的样本进行重量法测尘，并通过鲎试剂法分析内毒素。使用简单统计和随机效应分析来描述测量的粉尘和内毒素暴露浓度的水平及变异性。测得的可吸入粉尘水平总体几何平均值为2.5毫克/立方米（范围<检测限至47.8），内毒素为988 EU/立方米（范围<检测限至374,000）。粉尘和内毒素浓度最高的分别是养猪和养家禽的农民，而最低的分别是养奶牛和养水貂的农民。养猪和养牛农民的暴露特征是日常变异性很大，从室内工作环境到室外工作环境变异性增加。只有水貂养殖户符合丹麦总粉尘职业接触限值（3毫克/立方米）。我们超过93%的测量值超过了最近提议的荷兰内毒素接触限值（90 EU/立方米）。这些发现表明，养殖动物的农民暴露于高水平的粉尘和内毒素中，这与出现呼吸道症状和疾病的风险增加一致。制定减少暴露的预防策略需要深入识别影响暴露日常变异性的因素。
