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 were measured in one cigar and two cigarette factories in order to evaluate the risk of respiratory symptoms. The role of humidifiers as a source of microbes was investigated. Air samples for the analyses were collected near workers' breathing zones during different phases of production. Gram-negative bacteria, 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 concentrations (10(4)-10(5)cfu m(-3)) occurred throughout the production line in the cigar factory. The highest dust and endotoxin concentrations were found in the wick-making department in the cigar factory (3.3mg dust per m(3) and 38ng 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 106ng endotoxin per m(3)). The spray humidifiers in the cigar factory were a more important source of microbes than was raw tobacco. In the cigarette factories, steam humidifiers were used; the humidified air was free of microbes. The microbe concentrations in the tobacco factories were lower than in environments known to have caused allergic alveolitis.