Allergenic dermatophagoides mites causing asthma among schoolchildren at Ain-Shams District, Cairo, Egypt

ABSTRACT

The present study was performed on house dust samples collected from ten homes of schoolchildren suffering from asthma at Ain-Shams district, over a period of two years [2008 and 2009]. The data revealed that the total annual density of the two allergenic mites [Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus [Trouessart] and Dermatophagoides farinae [Hughes] was 202 individual mites with 22 asthmatic children in the first year, and individual mites increased to 268 with 36 asthmatic children in the second year. The two house dust mites were more abundant in bedrooms than in living ones [292 and 187 mites, respectively]. The prevalence of the house dust mites on the mattresses and furniture were higher in bedrooms and living rooms than on the floors [340 and 140 mite, respectively]. Winter season recorded the highest prevalence for both mites in the first and second year [87 and 110, respectively]. Summer represented the lowest values [19 and 25, respectively]