European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 31, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse V. Shiv Ruvi the mighty dust mite May be the cause of your allergy by Garret Condon the Hartford courant feeling unappreciated remember if it weren t for you and the skin particles flaking off your body the billions of dust mites living in your bed would go hungry. In a sorry i did t realize you were still eating breakfast. Well there is no time to Dilly Dally Over your cornflakes anyway. Spring is Here and it s time to pull out the furniture and Herd out those basketball size dust bunnies. Actually if you can Roll out those dust balls without suffering col like symptoms you re one of the Lucky ones. Not Lucky to have Gargantuan dust hunks but fortunate that you Are not among the estimated one third of americans allergic to dust. For those with a dust allergy exposure can mean being plagued by one or a number of cold like symptoms Runny nose watery eyes coughing sneezing and wheezing. To the susceptible it can even bring on asthma attacks. Dust is the detritus of our Home environment. It May include a but is not limited to a human and animal hair Dander dry skin lakes from us and our pets disintegrating bits of dead insects Mold spores pollen bacteria Lead if there is peeling Lead paint in the House Silica dried pet saliva strands of various fabrics and focal matter from rodents and insects of and dust mites dust especially dust collected in moist warm areas with plenty of human traffic like Over stuffed couches and mattresses is often Home Sweet Home to Petrony sinus and Farina sightless eight legged arthropods that Dine primarily on shed Scales of human skin. Quot everyone has them mites Quot says or. Bruce Gordon a Hyams mass., surgeon and allergist who is an assistant surgeon at Massachusetts Eye and ear infirmary in Boston and a clinical instructor at Harvard medical school. He estimates that a bed can have billions of the tiny critters although the number can vary greatly. Quot if it s comfortable for humans it s comfortable Lor dust mites Quot however dust mites Are a source of discomfort for Many of those who can to handle dust the most serious allergens substances that May cause an allergic reaction Are contained in the focal pellets of the otherwise harmless mites the primary culprit is a protein that comes from the mite s digestive tract. Dust also contains other allergens including cat Dander and decaying bits of dead cockroaches and other insects Quot at the moment they mites Are considered the most significant allergen Quot says or. Andrea Apter chief of the Section of allergy immunology in the department of Medicine at the University of Connecticut health Center in Farmington. She notes that until recently few scientists have been swept up in the study of dust and that new dust allergens Are still being discovered. She says that there May be elements of dust that Are irritating to non allergic people As Well As to allergy sufferers. If you think you re allergic to dust you May want to try some simple Low Cost anti dust measures to see if your symptoms improve. Only a doctor can determine what your specific allergies Are. You cannot Hope to rid your Home of mites says Gordon Quot and still have other living things but you can reduce the population and possibly reduce the sniffling or hacking they re causing. Quot for the allergic individual we concentrate on the bedroom because that s where they spend the most time Quot says Apter. Gordon encourages his dust sensitive patients to make the bedroom Quot an for starters you need to get rid of various items in the room that collect dust. Bare Wood or linoleum floors a surfaces that can be Damp mopped at least weekly a Are the Way to go. Get rid of carpets which Are Mavorite dust mite colonies. Quot put in Little area rugs that you can easily launder Quot suggests Gordon. There is a product called Aca Rosan available m most drug stores. It is a moist powder that is applied to carpets twice a year and vacuumed off to control mites. Steam cleaning of carpets can help too but it must be done while the weather is dry so that no moisture remains in the carpet. Otherwise they will get a mite buggy again. Eliminate As Many dust catching objects As to your health the tiny mite becomes a fearsome apart ton when viewed through an Electron Microscope. Mites Are a frequent cause of dust allergies. You can Wall hangings Knickknacks stereo gear books and bookcases try to strip the room Down to the basics use blinds instead of curtains or use curtains made of washable fabric. Keep closets closed clean and clutter free. Obviously if you think cat allergen found in dried cat saliva is what is getting you sneezing try to keep your cat out of the bedroom. The simplest Way to control dust mites in bed is to buy zip up plastic lined covers for your Box Spring mattress and Pillow. Gordon recommends getting rid of old pillows and buying new polyester fiber pillows and putting them in the dryer once a week. Use washable blankets and comforters that can be washed regularly in hot water. Obviously water bed owners done to have to worry about mites in the mattress but they should Wash the fabric pads on top of the Beds. You also can buy appliances and systems to Clear the air of dust. Quot what s important in t what s on the floor but what they breathe in Quot says Apter. Buying costly cleaners and vacuum systems should definitely be a last resort according to both Apter and Gordon. Rita Rooney health education specialist with the asthma amp allergy foundation of America believes that portable air filters a the High efficiency particulate air types Are recommended a Sre Good investments for those suffering from allergies. Several models Cost about $250. And they Are Small enough the size of a Small Footstool to go on vacation with the allergy sufferer. Also if a Home is equipped with Central forced air heating and Cooling hepa Type or electrostatic filters can be added to the Furnace to clean the air in the House. Outside of the bedroom carpeting and overstuffed chairs and sofas Are the main dust mite motels. Gordon s Best advice to allergy sufferers is to get rid of such furniture or to encase upholstered sections of Antiques in plastic. If All else fails allergists can suggest Over the counter allergy Medicine or prescribe drugs that will alleviate allergy symptoms. Gordon says an effective prescription drug for allergy symptoms Meldan emay be available in non prescription form in a year or so. Allergy shots also Are available As a last resort for the highly allergic. Having said All of this about avoiding dust mites your problem with dust could be rodent droppings or cockroach b to or even High doses of Lead from flaking Lead paint. To solve these problems you la Hae to rid yourself of the Ripic or have your Hou of ested for Lead cockroaches can be the culprit too by Frank d. Roylance the Baltimore Sun Long despised by housekeepers the lowly cockroach is being targeted by scientists who have found it to be one of the most serious indoor causes of asthma and allergies. The cockroach Quot is a risk Factor people Haven t considered to Date in part because it s not a socially acceptable topic for discussion Quot said or. Robert g. Hamilton of the Johns Hopkins school of Medicine in Baltimore. More than almost any other pest cockroaches elicit feelings of guilt revulsion and dirtiness. Although cockroaches have been accepted As a source of human allergies for the last five years Hamilton said Quot Only recently have we been Able to prove it and prove to patients that they May have a problem in their own Hamilton together with Johns Hopkins doctors n. Franklin Adkinson jr., Peyton a Eggleston and Martin Chapman proved the link Between cockroaches and allergies by using new techniques that allowed them to isolate identify and measure the presence of cockroach allergens chemicals that trigger an allergic reaction. Skin tests on 73 asthmatic children in the Baltimore area found that 49 percent were allergic to cockroach allergens. Of those children 61 percent were found to be living in Homes with cockroach allergens present enough to establish a cause and effect relationship Hamilton said. The allergies can Range from Quot the very mild a watery eyes and a Runny nose a to. Wheezing and respiratory problems that can be severe in some cases Quot Hamilton said Hamilton s research focused on two proteins released by German cockroaches a Latilla Germa Mathe most Quot cosmopolitan Quot of eight species common in american Homes Quot we Don t know yet exactly what the proteins Are or what their functions Are Quot he said University of Virginia scientists say the substances seem to be secreted continually As the cockroaches walk about perhaps As sex lures or As a sort of territorial Marker. They Are not limited to cockroach parts or droppings. After being released by the cockroaches the allergens cling to dust particles which arc then blown around the House and inhaled touching off allergic reactions among sensitive people Only the More prevalent Mold spores and the droppings of dust mites rank higher As indoor risks to allergy and asthma sufferers Hamilton said. Cats and dogs also Are polent sources of allergens but because they Are easily removed irom the Homo they Are a less serious problem than mites Mold and cockroaches sneezing Mold May be to blame some people who suffer from chronic sneezing and congestion might be allergic to microscopic Mold spores rather than pollen. The ubiquitous fungi commonly grow in Damp basements air conditioners humidifiers and Shower stalls and thrive in hot humid weather. Indoor air Condl Lonor ammo Mon outdoor furniture Ltd amp 3 <3 j Page 14 the stars and stripes tuesday m sch 31. 1992 the stars and stripes Page 11
