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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2001, p. 2775-2780, Vol. 67, No. 6
Centre de Recherche, l'Hôpital Laval,
Sainte-Foy, Québec, Canada,1 and
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, University
of Iowa College of Public Health, Iowa City,
Iowa2
Received 21 December 2000/Accepted 18 March 2001
Environmental assessment data collected in two prior occupational
hygiene studies of swine barns and sawmills allowed the comparison of
concurrent, triplicate, side-by-side endotoxin measurements using air
sampling filters and bioaerosol impingers. Endotoxin concentrations in
impinger solutions and filter eluates were assayed using the
Limulus amebocyte lysate assay. In sawmills, impinger sampling yielded significantly higher endotoxin concentration measurements and lower variances than filter sampling with IOM inhalable dust samplers. Analysis of variance for repeated measures showed that this association remained after controlling for other factors such as replicate, sawmill, sawmill operation, wood type, and
interaction terms. Endotoxin concentrations in the swine barns were
10-fold higher on average than in sawmills. These samples demonstrated
comparable endotoxin concentration estimates for impinger and filter
methods although the variability was lower using the impinger method.
In both occupational settings, side-by-side replicates were more
uniform for the impinger samples than for the filter samples. This
study demonstrates that impinger sampling is an acceptable method for
quantitation of area endotoxin concentrations. Further, when sampling
is performed with impingers for airborne microorganism quantitation,
these same impinger solutions can yield valid endotoxin exposure
estimates, negating the need for additional filter sampling.
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.6.2775-2780.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Comparison of Endotoxin Exposure Assessment by
Bioaerosol Impinger and Filter-Sampling Methods
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: University of
Iowa College of Public Health, Department of Occupational and
Environmental Health, Iowa City, IA 52242-5000. Phone: (319) 335-4216. Fax: (319) 335-4006. E-mail: peter-thorne{at}uiowa.edu.
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