ABSTRACT
From a human health perspective, dust exposure in pig farming is the most important because of the large number of workers needed in pig production and the increasing number of working hours inside enclosed buildings (Iversen et al., 2000). In pig buildings, particulate matters like dust play a role in not only deteriorating indoor air quality but also in causing adverse health effects on workers (Donham et al., 1990; Pearson and Sharples, 1995; Mackiewicz, 1998; Kim et al., 2008). Generally, dust is recognized to adsorb and transport odorous compounds (Carpenter, 1986) and biological agents (Robertson et al., 1984; Kim et al., 2005) such as fungi (HSE, 2008). All these bioaerosoles
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS
Environment evaluations regarding particle matter contamination were performed during the winter season of 2011 with a portable direct-reading equipment (Lighthouse, model 3016 IAQ) and it was possible to obtain data concerning contamination caused by particles discriminated in 5 different sizes (PM0.5; PM1; PM2.5; PM5; PM10). This differentiation between particle size fractions is important because it allows the estimation of the penetration and deposition of dust within the respiratory system and, consequentely, the possible health effect related. Vincent and Mark (1981) demonstrated that the respirable dust is the fraction of airborne dust that reaches regions of the lung where the gas exchanges occur. It is composed with particles with less than 7 μm aerodynamic diameter (size from PM0.5 to PM5).
