Montealegre F, Sepulveda A, Bayona M, Quiñones C, Fernández-Caldas E
Laboratory of Immunochemistry, Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico 0732-7004.
P R Health Sci J. 1997 Jun;16(2):109-16.
This study was conducted to identify the domestic mite fauna of Puerto Rico. A total of 57 dust samples were collected from mattresses in homes of 11 cities on the Island. The analysis of the samples revealed that 73.70% of the mattress samples had at least one mite species. The identified species include: Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (45.6%), Blomia tropicalis (31.6%), Cheyletus sp. (19.3%), Dermatophagoides farinae (17.5%), Euroglyphus maynei (5.3%), Dermatophagoides sibonei (1.8%), Dermatophagoides sp. (1.8%), Suidasia melanensis (1.8%) and mite species that were not identified (5.3%). Differences in the geographical distribution of mites showed that only Blomia tropicalis is more frequently in the northern (43%) than in the southern region (19%) of Puerto Rico (OR 3.36, p, 0.046). This finding can be explained by the fact that in the northern region the relative humidity is significantly higher that in the southern region (p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed for other species or in the total mite counts between the northern and southern regions. The small sample size of this study may explain the lack significance for some of the differences found. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the domestic mite fauna is composed of several clinically important species, their numbers are high enough to be considered in the sensitizing levels, and the diversity of these species is comparable to other observations in the Caribbean areas, and in the southern states in the continental US. Based upon our results, we recommend that when performing the skin test in Puerto Rico, extracts from the identified local domestic mite species be included in the allergen panel. This may prove useful in the aid for the diagnosis and management of atopic conditions.
本研究旨在确定波多黎各的室内螨虫种类。从该岛11个城市的家庭床垫上共采集了57份灰尘样本。样本分析显示，73.70%的床垫样本至少含有一种螨虫。鉴定出的种类包括：屋尘螨（45.6%）、热带无爪螨（31.6%）、肉食螨属（19.3%）、粉尘螨（17.5%）、梅氏嗜霉螨（5.3%）、西氏尘螨（1.8%）、未鉴定的尘螨属种类（1.8%）、黑腹绥螨（1.8%）以及未鉴定的螨虫种类（5.3%）。螨虫地理分布的差异表明，只有热带无爪螨在波多黎各北部（43%）比南部地区（19%）更为常见（比值比3.36，p < 0.046）。这一发现可以解释为北部地区的相对湿度显著高于南部地区（p < 0.001）。在北部和南部地区之间，其他种类或螨虫总数没有观察到显著差异。本研究的样本量较小可能解释了一些发现的差异缺乏显著性。然而，我们的结果表明，室内螨虫种类包括几种具有临床重要性的种类，它们的数量足以在致敏水平方面加以考虑，并且这些种类的多样性与加勒比地区以及美国大陆南部各州的其他观察结果相当。基于我们的结果，我们建议在波多黎各进行皮肤试验时，将鉴定出的当地室内螨虫种类的提取物纳入过敏原检测组。这可能有助于过敏性疾病的诊断和管理。
