[Prevention of exposure in respiratory allergies]. / Expositionsprophylaxe bei Respirationsallergien.

Sensitization to indoor allergens like house-dust mite and animal dander as well as outdoor allergens like grass and tree pollen play an important role in the development to atopic airway disease, i.e. atopic rhinitis and conjunctivitis and allergic asthma. Studies on emergency room patients in the US showed that the sensitization to cat dander and house-dust mite Dermatophagoides represented risk factors for acute attacks of asthma. However, irrespective of the inheritance of atopy, disease of specific organs and expression of symptoms remain highly variable and are likely to depend on a multiplicity of environmental factors, the most important of which is likely to be the level of exposure to the sensitizing allergen. There is increasing evidence that exposure to potential allergens early in life is important. Concentrations and timing of the exposure seem fundamental. The elimination of allergens in households of atopic individuals is crucial in a prophylaxis and therapy. There have been several publications on mite allergen elimination procedures; a lot of them are uncontrolled, and allergen reduction is not significant. This article tries to compare trials reporting of improvement of clinical symptoms and significant reduction of indoor allergens with those trials which did not achieve significant results.

Short-term effect of solidified benzyl benzoate on mite-allergen concentrations in house dust.

The effect of solidified benzyl benzoate (bb) foam and powder on concentrations of the major allergens of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p I) and D. farinae (Der f I) in dust samples from mattresses and carpets in 22 households was investigated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. All houses had been demonstrated to have significant (greater than or equal to 2000 ng/gm of dust) mite-allergen concentrations on mattresses. Dust samples were collected from mattresses and carpets before treatment and on days 10, 30, and 60 after the first treatment. There was a second application on day 10. Der p I and Der f I were determined by a sandwich-type ELISA with monoclonal noncross-reacting antibodies to Der p I and polyclonal monospecific antibodies to Der f I. There was a significant reduction of mite allergens in mattresses and carpets within both bb-treated and control groups, but only the results on carpets of the bb-treated group were significantly different from results of the control group on days 30 and 60 (p less than 0.05).