Vaughan J W, Woodfolk J A, Platts-Mills T A
University of Virginia Asthma and Allergic Diseases Center, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1999 Nov;104(5):1079-83. doi: 10.1016/s0091-6749(99)70092-8.
High-quality vacuum cleaners and vacuum cleaner bags are often recommended to allergic patients as a means of reducing indoor allergen exposure. A number of vacuum cleaners on the market today claim to capture 99.9% of particles 0.3 microm or larger entering the vacuum cleaner, and many vacuum cleaner bags are now being sold as microfiltration bags.
The purpose of this study was to compare the allergen-trapping abilities of vacuum cleaners and to use a new technique for testing vacuum cleaner bags that are recommended for allergic patients.
Vacuum cleaners were tested in an 18-m(3) laboratory room permeated with dust containing high levels of cat allergen by using techniques previously described. Air was sampled with parallel filters in conjunction with a particle counter. The filters were assayed by ELISA for cat allergen (Fel d 1). Vacuum cleaner bags were tested by using a modified dust trap to pull sieved house dust containing a known amount of Fel d 1 across the material used for the bag. Allergen passing through the bag was trapped on a filter covering the exit of the trap and analyzed for Fel d 1.
In general, vacuum cleaners designed for allergic patients leaked lower amounts of allergen (<0.5-4.04 ng/m(3)) than that found in our previous studies (<0.5-100 ng/m(3)). Single-layer vacuum cleaner bags performed poorly (1250-2640 ng recovered) compared with most of the 2- and 3-layer microfiltration bags (0.53-2450 ng recovered). The range of allergen recovered from the 2-layer bags (0.93-2450 ng recovered) highlighted the variability found between manufacturers.
The results suggest that although allergen leakage has been reduced, there is still room for improvement. A method of testing allergen leakage by using Fel d 1 should be applied to vacuum cleaners and bags recommended for allergic patients.
高质量的真空吸尘器和真空吸尘器袋常被推荐给过敏患者，作为减少室内过敏原暴露的一种方式。如今市场上的一些真空吸尘器宣称能捕获进入吸尘器的99.9%的0.3微米及以上的颗粒，并且现在许多真空吸尘器袋作为微滤袋出售。
本研究的目的是比较真空吸尘器捕获过敏原的能力，并采用一种新技术来测试推荐给过敏患者的真空吸尘器袋。
通过使用先前描述的技术，在一个18立方米的实验室房间内对真空吸尘器进行测试，该房间弥漫着含有高水平猫过敏原的灰尘。使用平行过滤器结合粒子计数器对空气进行采样。通过酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）检测过滤器中的猫过敏原（Fel d 1）。通过使用改良的集尘器对真空吸尘器袋进行测试，将含有已知量Fel d 1的筛分后的室内灰尘抽吸通过用于制作袋子的材料。穿过袋子的过敏原被捕获在覆盖集尘器出口的过滤器上，并对Fel d 1进行分析。
一般来说，为过敏患者设计的真空吸尘器泄漏的过敏原量（<0.5 - 4.04纳克/立方米）比我们之前的研究中发现的量（<0.5 - 100纳克/立方米）要低。与大多数双层和三层微滤袋（回收0.53 - 2450纳克）相比，单层真空吸尘器袋的表现较差（回收1250 - 2640纳克）。从双层袋子中回收的过敏原范围（回收0.93 - 2450纳克）突出了不同制造商之间存在的差异。
结果表明，尽管过敏原泄漏有所减少，但仍有改进的空间。一种使用Fel d 1测试过敏原泄漏的方法应应用于推荐给过敏患者的真空吸尘器和袋子。
