Effect of deployment time on endotoxin and allergen exposure assessment using electrostatic dust collectors

The electrostatic dust collector (EDC) is a passive dust sampling device for exposure assessment of airborne endotoxin and possibly allergens. EDCs consist of a non-conducting plastic folder holding two or four electrostatic cloths of defined area. The sampling time needed to achieve detectable and reproducible loading for bioaerosols has not been systematically evaluated. Thus, in 15 Iowa farm homes EDCs were deployed for 7-, 14-, and 28-day sampling periods to determine if endotoxin and allergens could be quantified and if loading rates were uniform over time, i.e. if loads doubled from 7 to 14 days or 14 to 28 days and quadrupled from 7 to 28 days. Loadings between left and right paired EDC cloths were not significantly different and were highly correlated for endotoxin, total protein, and cat (Fel d1), dog (Can f1), and mouse (Mus m1) allergens (P < 0.001). EDCs performed especially well for endotoxin sampling with close agreement between paired samples (Pearson r = 0.96, P < 0.001). Endotoxin loading of the EDCs doubled from 7- to 14-day deployments as hypothesized although the loading rate decreased from 14 to 28 days of sampling with only a 1.38-fold increase. Allergen exposure assessment using EDCs was overall less satisfactory. Although there was reasonable agreement between paired samples, only exposures to cat, dog, and mouse allergens were reliable and these only at the longer deployment times.