Technique for assessing respiratory health hazards from hay and other source materials

This paper describes and compares three techniques of categorisation of hay, straw and other feeds and beddings collected from stables. A hand-held sampler was used to categorise samples according to the presence of plant material, fungal spores and dust mites. An Andersen sampler was used to categorise samples according to the thermotolerances of fungi and actinomycetes. An aerodynamic particle sizer was used to categorise samples according to respirable particle release rates. The highest burden of respirable particles was associated with the presence of thermophilic and thermotolerant actinomycetes and fungi. The portable slit sampler proved to be an accurate, quick and simple semiquantitative method of assessing the mould contamination of source materials. This latter technique requires only a microscope and the sampler, and is thus ideal for veterinary practices and small diagnostic laboratories.