Pyrethroids used indoor - ambient monitoring of pyrethroids following a pest control operation

House dust and airborne particles (PM) were sampled before (T1) and 1 day (T2), 4-6 months (T3) as well as 10-12 months (T4) after a pest control operation (PCO). Cyfluthrin was applied in 11, cypermethrin in 1, deltamethrin in three and permethrin in four interiors. The pyrethroid concentrations in house dust and PM were measured by GC/MS with a detection limit for all pyrethroids of 0.5 mg/kg house dust and of 1 ng/m(3) PM for deltamethrin and permethrin and 3 ng/m(3) PM for cyfluthrin and cypermethrin. A general background concentration of permethrin (95th percentile: 5.9mg/kg) and cyfluthrin (95th percentile: 34.9 mg/kg) in house dust was found. In general, an appropriately performed PCO lead to an increase of pyrethroids in house dust as well as in PM, in some cases up to 1 year after application. One day after the application the cyfluthrin concentration increased significantly from 0.25 (T1) to 33.8 mg/kg house dust (T2) and up to 4.9 ng/m3 in PM. The permethrin concentration increased significantly from 4.3 to 70 mg/kg in house dust and up to 18.1 ng/m(3) in PM, deltamethrin increased to 54.5 mg/kg and 20.8 ng/m(3) and cypermethrin to 14 mg/kg and 45.7 ng/m(3). Thereafter a continuous decrease could be observed during the time course of 1 year. After 1 year the permethrin concentration in house dust was still 115 of the T2 concentration, whereas for cypermethrin and cyfluthrin only 1/14 and 1/23 of the T2 concentration were found. Deltamethrin was not detected at all after T2. Moreover, the data of this study showed significant, positive correlations between pyrethroids in house dust and in airborne particles especially one day after PCO. (c) 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.