Airborne endotoxins in a rice production commune in the people's republic of China

Abstract

Concentrations of total and vertical elutriated airborne dusts were quantified for five work areas within a rice production commune near Shanghai, the People's Republic of China. Mean (±SE) commune levels of 15.69 ± 1.91 mg/m ³ and 6.00 ± 1.47 mg/m ³ were found for total and vertical elutriated dusts, respectively. Analysis of the airborne dusts for the presence of gram‐negative bacterial endotoxins resulted in mean levels of 21.23 ± 8.63 ng/mg total dust and 14.57 ± 7.97 ng/mg elutriated dust, with respective airborne concentrations of 492.12 and 100.22 ng endotoxin/m ³ . These data show that rice production in the People's Republic of China is associated with a dust burden that is contaminated with relatively high levels of endotoxins. The long‐term respiratory effects of inhalation of these dusts should be studied.