Research
Airborne Endotoxin Concentrations in Homes Burning Biomass Fuel
Sean Semple,1,2 Delan Devakumar,3 Duncan G. Fullerton,4 Peter S. Thorne,5 Nervana Metwali,5 Anthony Costello,3
Stephen B. Gordon,4 Dharma S. Manandhar,6 and Jon G. Ayres1,7
1Scottish Centre for Indoor Air, Population Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom; 2Scottish Centre
for Indoor Air, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; 3Centre for International Health and Development,
University College London, London, United Kingdom; 4Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Clinical Research Laboratories, Universities of
Malawi and Liverpool (United Kingdom), Blantyre, Malawi; 5Environmental Health Sciences Research Center, University of Iowa, Iowa
City, Iowa, USA; 6Mother and Infant Research Activities, Department of Paediatrics, Kathmandu Medical College, Kathmandu, Nepal;
7Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
BACKGROUND: About half of the world’s population is exposed to smoke from burning biomass
fuels at home. he high airborne particulate levels in these homes and the health burden of exposure
to this smoke are well described. Burning unprocessed biological material such as wood and dried
animal dung may also produce high indoor endotoxin concentrations.
OBJECTIVE: In this study we measured airborne endotoxin levels in homes burning diferent biomass
fuels.
METHODS: Air sampling was carried out in homes burning wood or dried animal dung in Nepal
(n = 31) and wood, charcoal, or crop residues in Malawi (n = 38). Filters were analyzed for endotoxin
content expressed as airborne endotoxin concentration and endotoxin per mass of airborne particulate.
RESULTS: Airborne endotoxin concentrations were high. Averaged over 24 hr in Malawian homes,
median concentrations of total inhalable endotoxin were 24 endotoxin units (EU)/m3 in charcoal
burning homes and 40 EU/m3 in woodburning homes. Short cookingtime samples collected in Nepal
produced median values of 43 EU/m3 in woodburning homes and 365 EU/m3 in dungburning
homes, suggesting increasing endotoxin levels with decreasing energy levels in unprocessed solid fuels.
CONCLUSIONS: Airborne endotoxin concentrations in homes burning biomass fuels are orders of
magnitude higher than those found in homes in developed countries where endotoxin exposure has
been linked to respiratory illness in children. here is a need for work to identify the determinants
of these high concentrations, interventions to reduce exposure, and health studies to examine the
efects of these sustained, nearoccupational levels of exposure experienced from early life.
KEY WORDS: biomass fuel smoke, endotoxin, inhalation, public health. Environ Health Perspect
118:988–991 (2010). doi:10.1289/ehp.0901605 [Online 22 March 2010]
he use of solid or biomass fuels to cook and
to heat homes is widespread in large parts of
the developing world, with an estimated 3 bil
lion people exposed to smoke from burning
these fuels in their own home (International
Energy Agency and Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development 2004). The
World Health Organization estimates that bio
mass fuel smoke exposure is responsible for
about 1.5 million early deaths per year (Prüss
Ustün et al. 2008), with a global burden of
disease of approximately 2.5% of all healthy
lifeyears lost. Most of the burden of disease
arises from respiratory infections, especially
in children < 5 years of age, with a dispropor
tionate amount of health problems falling on
women and children, who are more likely to be
at home or to have responsibilities for cooking
and heating activities (Rehfuess et al. 2006).
Research into indoor air pollution in homes
burning biomass fuels has tended to focus on
airborne concentrations of ine particulate mat
ter (PM) (Albalak et al. 2001; Edwards et al.
2007; Ezzati et al. 2000; Fullerton et al. 2009;
Kurmi et al. 2008), but airborne endotoxin
may also play an important role.
Endotoxin or lipopolysaccharide is part of
the cell wall of Gramnegative bacteria and has
been measured in airborne PM in occupational
settings, office buildings, households, and
988
ambient air. Once inhaled, endotoxin stimu
lates an amplifying series of endotoxin–protein
and protein–protein interactions, sequentially
binding to a range of proteins and receptors,
leading to production of chemotactic cytok
ines and chemokines (Hađina et al. 2008) and
lung inflammation and resultant oxidative
stress. Studies have shown associations between
household endotoxin concentrations and diag
nosed asthma, asthma medication use, and
severity of asthma symptoms (Michel et al.
1996; horne et al. 2005). Respiratory illness
in endotoxinexposed working populations has
been frequently documented (Smit et al. 2008;
horne and Duchaine 2007). In asthma, endo
toxin exposure has been shown to be protective
of development of allergic disease at low levels
while also producing nonallergic asthma and/
or aggravating symptoms of existing asthma
(Douwes et al. 2003; Smit et al. 2009).
Thorne and Duchaine (2007) tabulated
data on endotoxin levels in a wide variety of
industries and home environments, which
indicated geometric mean (GM), inhalable
fraction, personal exposures of 12–8,300
endotoxin units (EU)/m3 in agricultural occu
pations and 5.8 EU/m3 in homes of rural
asthmatic children (n = 326).
Airborne endotoxin concentrations in
homes in Boston, Massachusetts (USA), have
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been shown to be signiicantly associated with
the presence of dogs, moisture sources in the
home, and the amount of settled dust (Park
et al. 2001). Endotoxin has also been identi
fied in tobacco smoke (Larsson et al. 2004)
and in homes where smoking takes place, pets
are present, and/or dampness or mold is found
(Rennie et al. 2008; Tavernier et al. 2006). In
the large U.S. National Survey of Endotoxin
in Housing (Vojta et al. 2002), increased
household endotoxin was most strongly associ
ated with living in poverty, number of people
in the home, pet ownership, and household
cleanliness (horne et al. 2009). Most studies
have used endotoxin levels in settled dust as a
surrogate for personal exposure. here are very
few studies that have measured airborne endo
toxin concentrations in household settings.
It seems probable that the burning of com
mon biomass fuels such as wood, charcoal,
dried animal dung, and crop residues within
small and poorly ventilated homes will pro
duce high endotoxin exposures. he only avail
able report in the scientiic literature comes
from a small study in the Ladakh region of
India, where shortterm sampling (< 60 min)
of two homes produced average endotoxin
Address correspondence to S. Semple, Scottish
Centre for Indoor Air, Population Health, University
of Aberdeen, 1.069 Polwarth Building, Foresterhill,
Aberdeen, UK AB25 2ZD. Telephone: 4401224
558194. Fax: 4401224551826. Email: sean.
semple@abdn.ac.uk
We acknowledge the assistance we received from
F. Kalambo, K. Shawa, and volunteers in Chikwawa
and Blantyre (Malawi). In Nepal we acknowledge the
assistance of R. Chandra, B. Lama, and N. Saville and
of B. Shrestha, Program Manager of the Dhanusha
Child Survival Project. We also gratefully acknowl
edge the assistance of G. Henderson and G. Moir at
the University of Aberdeen.
he Malawian study was funded by the Wellcome
Trust (ref. 080065) and is part of a larger project
studying the efect of biomass smoke exposure on pul
monary defense mechanisms in a population at risk for
HIVrelated pneumonia. It forms part of the Malawi
LiverpoolWellcome Trust Programme of Research
in Clinical Tropical Medicine. The funding for the
Nepalese study was from the Centre for International
Health and Development, University College London.
P.S.T. and N.M. were funded by National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences grant P30 ES005605.
he authors declare they have no actual or potential
competing inancial interests.
Received 22 October 2009; accepted 22 March
2010.
118 | NUMBER 7 | July 2010 • Environmental Health Perspectives
Airborne endotoxin in homes burning biomass fuels
concentrations of 24 and 190 EU/m3 (Rosati
et al. 2005). hese concentrations are within
the range of those found in occupations
involved in the handling and processing of
large volumes of biological material.
In this article we present results from a
study to measure endotoxin levels within the
main living area of 69 homes in Malawi and
Nepal and to explore diferences in these con
centrations based on the fuel type being used.
Materials and Methods
Study population and sampling strategy.
Samples of airborne PM were collected from
homes in two studies that assessed indoor air
pollution and health in Malawi and Nepal. In
Nepal the Dhanusha district was selected. his
is a lat, lowlying area of the country close to
the border with India. Two villages were sam
pled: one in the south of the district (Lohana),
where dried cow or bufalo dung is burned,
and one in the north (Dhalkebar), where wood
is burned. Fifteen homes were sampled in each
village, during cooking time in the morning or
evening in December 2008. After consent was
given by an adult householder, air sampling
equipment was placed in the main living area
of the home and sampled air between 90 and
180 min. his study had ethical approval from
the Nepal Health Research Council.
For the Malawi study, details of methods
used and results of PM concentrations meas
ured have been previously published (Fullerton
et al. 2009). In summary, a total of 75 homes
were recruited from around Blantyre and rural
Chikwawa villages during April 2008. Sampling
equipment was placed in the main living area of
each of these homes for a period of approxi
mately 24 hr, except in six homes where short
term sampling similar to that used in Nepal
(60–200 min duration around the time of a
cooking event) was carried out (all respirable
samples; n = 4 wood burning; n = 2 maize crop
residue burning). Not all homes received an
instrument capable of providing a sample for
the measurement of endotoxin concentrations;
we therefore present a subsample of data from
38 (19 rural and 19 urban) of the 75 Malawian
homes. This study had ethical approval from
the Research Ethics Committee of the College
of Medicine, University of Malawi, and the
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.
Sample collection. Air sampling was con
ducted by placing a small Apex air pump
(Casella, Bedford, UK) attached to either
a cyclone sampling head (2.2 L/min) or an
Institute of Occupational Medicine sampling
head (2.0 L/min) to sample the respirable
(median aerodynamic diameter, 4 µm) or the
total inhalable (deined as anything that can be
breathed into the nose and mouth and is broadly
particulate with an aerodynamic diameter
< 100 µm) particle size fraction of PM, respec
tively. Both types of sampling heads were loaded
Environmental Health Perspectives •
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with preweighed 25mm glassiber ilters with
a 0.7µm pore size. All samples in Nepal were
collected using an IOM sampling head, whereas
32 of the 38 Malawian samples were collected
using a cyclone. Sampling was performed in
accordance with Methods for Determination
of Hazardous Substances (MDHS) no. 14/3
(Health and Safety Executive 2000). he equip
ment was placed in the main living area of the
home at a height of approximately 1.0 m and,
where possible, at about 1.0 m from the main
stove or cooking area. After sampling, each ilter
was placed in a sealed metal tin and sent back
to the United Kingdom for reweighing before
being further transported to the United States
for endotoxin analysis. Field blanks were used
to correct the data for changes in ilter weight
associated with manipulation.
Endotoxin analysis. Endotoxin con
centrations of samples were measured using
a modification of the kinetic chromogenic
Limulus amebocyte lysate assay (Lonza, Inc.,
Walkersville, MD, USA) (horne et al. 2005).
Briefly, air sampling filters were extracted in
sterile, pyrogenfree water containing 0.05%
Tween 20 for 1 hr at 22°C, with continuous
shaking. Filter extracts were centrifuged 20 min
at 600 × g. Twofold serial dilutions of endo
toxin standards (Escherichia coli O111:B4) and
5fold serial dilutions of sample extracts were
prepared using sterile, pyrogenfree water in
heattreated borosilicate glass tubes. A 13point
standard curve was generated ranging from
0.025 to 100 EU/mL (R2 > 0.995), with absor
bance measured at 405 nm (SpectraMax 340;
Molecular Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA, USA).
Endotoxin determinations were based upon the
maximum slope of the absorbance versus time
plot for each well.
he arithmetic mean (14.4 EU/sample) for
the six Malawi ilter ield blanks was subtracted
from each of the other Malawi filter results.
he analytical limit of detection (LOD) was
derived from using a value of three times the
standard deviation (9.24 EU/ilter) of the ield
blank measurements (Malawi filter analyti
cal LOD = 27.7 EU/ilter). Where corrected
ilter values were less than the LOD (n = 12),
the ilter was assigned a value of onehalf the
LOD (13.9 EU/ilter). A similar process was
applied to the Nepal filters based on results
from four ield blanks (arithmetic mean = 4.4;
SD = 0.95 EU/ilter; analytical LOD = 2.85
EU/ilter). For the Nepal ilters with corrected
values less than the LOD (n = 4), a value of
1.43 EU/ilter was assigned.
Statistical analysis. Data were double
entered to a Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS), version 17.0 ile (SPSS Inc.,
Chicago, IL, USA), and summary statistics and
box plots were generated directly. Mean endo
toxin concentrations measured in Nepalese
total inhalable dust samples from wood and
dungburning homes were compared using
a Mann–Whitney Utest. A similar test was
used to test for diferences in respirable endo
toxin concentrations in Malawian charcoal
and woodburning homes.
Results
Tables 1 and 2 provide summary statistics of
the measured total inhalable and respirable
Table 1. Summary statistics of PM and endotoxin concentrations by fuel type, sampling fraction, and
country for short (< 200 min) cooking-interval samples.
Fuel/particle size
Nepal, TIP
Wood
Dung
Malawi, Resp
Wood
Maize crop residue
PM (mg/m3)
Mean ± SD
n
Range
16
15
0.22–4.08
0.91–12.8
4
2
1.40–9.65
0.65–9.56
Endotoxin (EU/m3)
Mean ± SD Median
Median
Range
1.14 (1.12)
3.78 (3.51)
0.68
2.33
6–371
133–1,002
100 (113)
498 (291)
4.73 (3.97)
5.11 (6.30)
3.94
5.11
63–520
45–3,172
202 (217)
1,609 (2,211)
< LOD (n)
43
365
4a
0
113
1,609
1b
1c
Abbreviations: LOD, analytical limit of detection (Malawi, 27.7 EU/filter; Nepal, 2.85 EU/filter); Resp, respirable PM; TIP,
total inhalable PM.
aConcentrations generated from filters assigned values of LOD/2 were 6.18, 6.23, 7.02, and 7.96 EU/m3. bConcentration
generated from filter assigned values of LOD/2 was 63.3 EU/m3. cConcentration generated from filter assigned values of
LOD/2 was 45.1 EU/m3.
Table 2. Summary statistics of PM and endotoxin concentrations by fuel type and sampling fraction for
24-hr Malawi samples.
Fuel/particle size
Wood
TIP
Resp
Charcoal
TIP
Resp
n
PM (mg/m3)
Range
Mean ± SD
Median
Range
Endotoxin (EU/m3)
Mean ± SD Median
< LOD
4
9
0.43–0.81
0.03–0.70
0.65 (0.18)
0.32 (0.25)
0.68
0.24
34–141
5–106
64 (52)
31 (34)
40
26
0
4a
2
17
0.20–0.32
0.04–0.72
0.26 (0.09)
0.25 (0.17)
0.26
0.23
21–26
4–256
24 (3.6)
35 (59)
24
21
0
6b
Abbreviations: LOD, analytical limit of detection (Malawi, 27.7 EU/filter; Nepal, 2.85 EU/filter); Resp, respirable PM; TIP,
total inhalable PM.
aConcentrations generated from filters assigned values of LOD/2 were 4.88, 5.22, 5.24, and 5.40 EU/m3. bConcentrations
generated from filters assigned values of LOD/2 were 4.08, 4.26, 4.29, 4.60, 5.20, and 5.31 EU/m3.
118 | NUMBER 7 | July 2010
989
Semple et al.
dust concentrations and the endotoxin con
centrations measured in the homes. Data are
subdivided by country, primary fuel type of
the home, and measurement duration. The
PM concentrations from the shortduration
samples (Table 1) are generally about an order
of magnitude higher than the 24hr samples
collected in Malawi, relecting the much higher
smoke concentrations during cooking events
than at other times in the household. Total
inhalable endotoxin concentrations during
cookingtime sampling show much higher
median values during dung burning in Nepal
(365 EU/m3) than during wood burning in
Nepal (43 EU/m3). For 24hr samples, total
inhalable endotoxin median values were higher
in woodburning (40 EU/m3) than in charcoal
burning (24 EU/m3) homes. Although values
for respirable endotoxin concentrations are not
1,200
1,000
EU/m3
800
600
400
200
0
Wood
Dung
Fuel type
Figure 1. Box plot of airborne total inhalable endotoxin concentrations by fuel type during cooking
in Nepalese homes. The line inside the box represents the median value, the lower and upper box
lines represent the limits of the interquartile range
(25th and 75th percentiles), and the “whiskers”
represent the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution. Difference in means p < 0.01.
directly comparable with total inhalable endo
toxin concentrations and will be an underes
timate of total inhalable levels, the respirable
data are broadly supportive of the increasing
gradient in endotoxin concentrations: charcoal
< wood < cow dung < maize crop residues.
Figure 1 is a box plot of airborne endotoxin
concentrations from the directly comparable
samples taken during cooking from wood
burning and dungburning homes in Nepal.
here is a statistically signiicant diference in
airborne endotoxin concentrations in Nepalese
homes burning dung compared with those
burning wood (Mann–Whitney Utest, z = 4.0;
p < 0.01). he much larger endotoxin concen
trations in dungburning homes do not appear
to be simply a function of the increased PM
produced in this type of fuel. Figure 2 illustrates
the amount of endotoxin per mass of PM meas
ured in the Nepalese villages and demonstrates
that dunggenerated smoke tends to contain
much more endotoxin than does a similar mass
of woodgenerated smoke (z = 2.2; p = 0.024).
Figure 3 presents data on 24hr respirable
endotoxin concentrations from the Malawian
homes burning charcoal or wood. he difer
ence between fuel types is not statistically sig
niicant (z = 0.46; p = 0.647). Figure 4 shows
the median endotoxin concentration per mass
of respirable PM, again for the 24hr samples
collected in homes in Malawi. The median
concentrations of endotoxin per mass of dust
is higher in woodburning homes than in char
coalburning homes, although this is not statis
tically signiicant (z = 0.243; p = 0.808).
Discussion
Endotoxin concentrations reported in this study
are high and much higher than those found in a
recent study measuring airborne endotoxin in
10 homes in northern California (Chen and
Hildemann 2009), where mean concentrations
were generally < 1 EU/m3, and in a study of
homes of rural asthmatic children, where the
GM inhalable endotoxin was 5.8 EU/m3 (n =
326) (horne and Duchaine 2007). hey were
also considerably higher than those measured
from a large study of the homes of 332 children
in Canada (Dales et al. 2006). he mean air
borne endotoxin concentration in the Canadian
study was 0.49 EU/m3, almost 100 times less
than the 24hr average levels measured in this
study for charcoalburning homes and close to
1,000 times lower than the average level during
cooking with dried dung in homes in Nepal.
However, results from the Canadian study
showed that even at the relatively low levels of
exposure experienced by the Canadian study
population, there was a statistically signiicant
relationship between airborne endotoxin and
respiratory illness in the irst 2 years of life.
he only previous study of endotoxin con
centrations in biomassburning homes was car
ried out in two homes in the Ladakh region of
India (Rosati et al. 2005), where endotoxin lev
els of 24 and 190 EU/m3 were found, broadly
in line with our data. he Indian homes were
small, portable tentlike structures with little in
the way of ventilation or extraction of smoke
generated from burning dung and crop residues.
A healthbased guidance limit of
50 EU/m3 has been recommended for occu
pational settings in the Netherlands (Heederik
and Douwes 1997) for an 8hr timeweighted
average exposure. he median value of 24hr
samples collected from charcoalburning homes
(using respirable dust size selection and hence
conservative compared with the total inhalable
dust sampler used for the limits proposed in the
Netherlands) was approximately 20 EU/m3.
500
*
600
600
EU/m3
EU/mg of dust
400
300
EU/mg of dust
400
500
300
*
200
200
400
200
100
100
0
0
0
Wood
Wood
Dung
Fuel type
Figure 2. Box plot of airborne endotoxin by fuel
type during cooking per PM mass on the filter in
Nepalese homes. The line inside the box represents the median value, the lower and upper box
lines represent the limits of the interquartile range
(25th and 75th percentiles), and the “whiskers”
represent the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution. Circles indicate outlier observations with
values 1.5–3.0 times the interquartile range from
the 25th or 75th percentile. Difference in means
p = 0.024.
990
Charcoal
Fuel type
Wood
Charcoal
Fuel type
Figure 3. Box plot of 24-hr airborne respirable
endotoxin concentrations by fuel type in Malawian
homes. The line inside the box represents the
median value, the lower and upper box lines represent the limits of the interquartile range (25th and
75th percentiles), and the “whiskers” represent
the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution. The
circle indicates an outlier observation as described
in Figure 2; the asterisk indicates an observation
more than three times the interquartile range from
the 25th or 75th percentile. Difference in means
p = 0.647.
VOLUME
Figure 4. Box plot of 24-hr airborne respirable
endotoxin by fuel type per PM mass on the filter
in Malawian homes. The line inside the box represents the median value, the lower and upper box
lines represent the limits of the interquartile range
(25th and 75th percentiles), and the “whiskers”
represent the 5th and 95th percentiles of the distribution. The circle indicates an outlier observation
as described in Figure 2; the asterisk indicates an
observation more than three times the interquartile
range from the 25th or 75th percentile. Difference
in means p = 0.808.
118 | NUMBER 7 | July 2010 • Environmental Health Perspectives
Airborne endotoxin in homes burning biomass fuels
Scaling this to an 8hr timeweighted average
would produce levels of around 60 EU/m3,
exceeding the concentration deemed to be
acceptable for a healthy workforce. From our
results, we would anticipate much higher 8hr
timeweighted average values from wood and
dungburning homes, and it seems likely that
many of these would approach or exceed the
healthbased guidance limit value.
he health efects of exposure to the endo
toxin concentrations measured in the homes
in this study may be considerable, particularly
because exposure is sustained and occurs from
birth in most homes. Personal exposures of
women who carry out cooking and ire light
ing have the potential to be even higher than
the static or area measurements made in this
study because of regular close proximity to
the smoke plume. here is a need for personal
exposure data in these settings.
We acknowledge that this study has several
important weaknesses. We did not design the
study to collect samples for analysis of endo
toxin, but rather “piggybacked” it onto two
studies that set out to characterize PM con
centrations in homes in Malawi and Nepal. As
a consequence, our results present data from
both short cooking periods and longer 24hr
samples and also a mixture of total inhalable
and respirable PM size selection. In addition,
there was an extended period between the col
lection of the ilters and analysis for endotoxin,
and we believe that this led to the high levels of
contamination of some of the ield blanks that
we have reported. his is particularly evident
for the Malawi samples, which were stored
for the longest duration. We report our data
separately by size fraction, sampling duration,
country, and fuel type and used appropriate
methods for blank correction to overcome
these weaknesses where possible.
Further work should use a standard proto
col for endotoxin measurement and should seek
to standardize durations of sample collection.
Optimally, personal exposure measurements
should be considered, especially in the context
of healthrelated exposure measurement. Our
study design collected only two samples from
homes burning crop residues, and any future
study should seek to address this data gap.
Controlling and reducing exposure to bio
mass fuel smoke in homes in the developing
world are complex and diicult areas with such
options as modiications of behavior, introduc
tion of better and more efficient stoves, and
improved household ventilation (Zhang and
Smith 2007). Methods of reducing airborne
endotoxin concentrations will be broadly similar,
but there may also be opportunities to reduce
bacterial and endotoxin content of the source
fuel via harvesting and/or production methods
and changes to how fuel is stored. Higher cook
ing temperatures are likely to degrade endotoxin,
and more eicient cooking using improved stove
Environmental Health Perspectives •
VOLUME
technologies can also reduce the generation of
PMbound endotoxin. A recent study has also
suggested that outdoor storage of wood chips
increased endotoxin content (Sebastian et al.
2006), so dry, indoor storage areas for fuel may
reduce the airborne endotoxin levels when burn
ing eventually takes place.
Our study raises the possibility of an
important new risk factor, and preventive strat
egies, for respiratory morbidity and mortal
ity in the developing world. he mechanism
for the association between biomass smoke
exposure and infections of the lower respira
tory tract in children remains unclear but is
likely to be multifactorial and influenced by
housing conditions, nutritional status, and
other coexposures. It is possible that inhaled
endotoxin, being proinflammatory, may be
one contributory factor in this mechanistic
pathway. Pneumonia remains one of the larg
est contributors to underive mortality, and
exposure to high concentrations of airborne
endotoxin may be an important risk factor for
the severity of illness (Dales et al. 2006). From
a public health perspective, interventions to
reduce PM and endotoxin exposures gener
ated from household combustion of solid fuels
should be implemented as a matter of urgency.
Conclusions
his study has shown that airborne endotoxin
concentrations in homes burning biomass fuels
are considerably higher than those found in
homes in the developed world and at levels
comparable to agriculturalrelated occupations.
Some homes recorded cooking period concen
trations > 1,000 EU/m3, more than 20 times
the healthbased occupational guidance limit
suggested in the Netherlands. here is a need
for a larger study using a standard protocol that
allows further identiication of the determinants
of exposure in these homes. his would increase
our understanding of which fuels produce the
high levels. Methods to separate the inluence
of endotoxin concentrations from those of high
airborne PM levels are also required, as are epi
demiologic and intervention studies to deter
mine the health efects of reducing exposure to
these high endotoxin levels.
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