Exposure to microbes, endotoxins and total dust in cigarette and cigar manufacturing: an evaluation of health hazards

The concentrations of airborne microbes, endotoxins and total dust mere mea sured in one cigar and two cigarette factories in order to evaluate the ris k of respiratory symptoms. The role of humidifiers as a source of microbes was investigated, Air samples for the analyses mere collected near workers' breathing zones during different phases of production. cram-negative bacte ria, mesophilic fungi, thermotolerant fungi and thermophilic actinomycetes, but not Aspergillus glaucus fungi, were found in higher concentrations in the cigar factory than in the cigarette factories. High microbe concentrati ons (10(4)-10(5) cfu m(-3)) occurred throughout the production Line in the cigar factory. The highest dust and endotoxin concentrations mere found in the wick-making department in the cigar factory (3.3 mg dust per m(3) and 3 8 ng endotoxin per m(3)) and during the weighing or handling of raw tobacco in the cigarette factories (4.5 mg dust per m(3) and 106 ng endotoxin per m(3)), The spray humidifiers in the cigar factory mere a more important sou rce of microbes than was ram tobacco. In the cigarette factories, steam hum idifiers were used; the humidified air was free of microbes, The microbe co ncentrations in the tobacco factories were lower than in environments known to have caused allergic alveolitis. (C) 2000 British Occupational Hygiene Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.