[Microflora of the air in sawmills as a potential occupational hazard: concentration and composition of microflora and immunologic reactivity of workers to microbial aeroallergens]. / Mikroflora powietrza tartaków jako potencjalny czynnik zagrozenia zawodowego: stezenie i sklad mikroflory oraz immunologiczna reaktywnosc pracowników na aeroalergeny drobnoustrojowe.

ABSTRACT

Microbiologial studies of the air and allergological examinations of the workers were performed in two sawmills processing deciduous wood (mainly oak) and in one sawmill processing coniferous wood (mainly pine). The concentration of microorganisms in the air was of the order 10(3)-10(4) cfu/m3. The most common organisms were corynebacteria (Arthrobacter, Corynebacterium, Brevibacterium, Microbacterium), spore-forming bacilli (Bacillus), Gram-negative bacteria (rahnella) and filamentous fungi (Aspergillus, Penicillium). The workers responded to the extract of pine dust with much higher frequency than to the extract of oak dust. The workers processing pine were often sensitized to Rahnella while those processing oak were commonly sensitized to Penicillium. Precipitin reactions were rare and occurred only with the antigen of Rahnella.