Personal exposure to house dust mite allergen in bed: nasal air sampling and reservoir allergen levels

Summary Background Assessment of personal exposure to dust mite allergen has relied on proxy measures. Only recently has a means to directly measure inhaled allergen particle number become available (the intra‐nasal air sampler). Objective To quantify inspired dust mite group 1 and group 2 allergen‐...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical and experimental allergy 2002-06, Vol.32 (6), p.856-859
Main Authors: Gore, R. B., Hadi, E. A., Craven, M., Smillie, F. I., O'Meara, T. J., Tovey, E. R., Woodcock, A., Custovic, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis
allergen exposure
Allergens - analysis
Allergic diseases
Antigens, Dermatophagoides - analysis
Beds
Biological and medical sciences
Disease Reservoirs - statistics & numerical data
Environmental Exposure - analysis
house dust mite
Humans
Immunopathology
Medical sciences
nasal air sampling
Nose - blood supply
Pyroglyphidae
Reference Values
Respiratory and ent allergic diseases
Sampling Studies
Statistics as Topic
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Summary:Summary Background Assessment of personal exposure to dust mite allergen has relied on proxy measures. Only recently has a means to directly measure inhaled allergen particle number become available (the intra‐nasal air sampler). Objective To quantify inspired dust mite group 1 and group 2 allergen‐bearing particles in bed in undisturbed conditions prior to sleep by nasal air sampling and to investigate the relationship between inhaled particles and reservoir allergen levels. Methods Twelve volunteers wore nasal samplers in bed for 6 evenings, nose‐breathing in undisturbed conditions. Allergen‐bearing particles (‘halos’) were detected by immunostaining for Der p 1, Der p 2, or Der p 1 and Der p 2 together, and counted by light microscopy. Count data were square root transformed for analysis of variance. Mattress dust samples were assayed for Der p 1 and Der p 2 concentrations. Results Square root detransformed mean particle counts per 30‐min sample were: Der p 1, 4.22; Der p 2, 5.9; Der p 1 + Der p 2, 4.87; and for all samples, 5.01, with no difference between the groups. With replicate samples, halo number correlated significantly with mattress allergen concentrations (Der p 1 r = 0.80, P 
ISSN:0954-7894
1365-2222
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2222.2002.01403.x