Introduction: Conflicting results exist with regard to the efficacy of vacuum cleaners on the removal of mite allergens from bedding.
Objectives: The authors prospectively compared a short term efficacy of two types of regular vacuum cleaners (National-N and Hoover-H) with a specialized cleaner (Vorwerk-V) in the removal of mite allergens from mattresses.
Material and method: Thirty-five dormitory beds with high mite allergen concentrations at the baseline period (month 0) were selected. They were matched into three groups according to group I mite allergen concentrations (N 11 beds, H 12 beds, V 12 beds). Vacuuming was performed on months 1 and 4 by the assigned vacuum cleaner in each group. Immediately after, mattresses were vacuumed by a reference cleaner (another National vacuum cleaner) at both months. Vacuuming was performed over the entire bed for 2 minutes/square meter. Group I mite allergens (sums of Der p 1 and Der f 1) were measured; concentrations and total mite allergens removed by the tested cleaners as well as by the reference cleaner, at various time points, were compared.
Results: Ability to remove mite allergens by vacuum cleaners depends on weight of dust removed and also on mite concentrations in the dust samples. Despite the fact that H and V appeared to remove higher mite allergens than N, such differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05), both at month 1, and 4. Surprisingly, mattress mite concentrations removed by both high capacity cleaner groups (V & H) increased at month 4, whereas, it remained unchanged in the third group (N). This increase led to a concomitant increase in total allergen removed by V and H. Nevertheless, remaining total allergens in the mattresses in V and H, as judged from the amount of allergens obtained by the reference cleaner, increased at month 1 and 4 compared to baseline values (p < 0.05), whereas, no change was observed in N.
Conclusion: Although high capacity vacuum cleaners removed a large amount of mite allergens from mattresses, they did not sufficiently reduce mattress mite allergen burden as determined by the reference cleaner during this short term study.