Background: Mites are the most common cause of respiratory allergy. Sensitization to house dust mites is estimated at 30%. Families Euroglyphus and Dermatophagoides, are the most important. Recently, storage mites, from the families Acaridae and Glyciphagidae, have become more important as a cause of allergic respiratory diseases.
Objective: The aim of this study was to identify sensitization to house dust and storage mites by skin tests in adult patients with allergic respiratory diseases.
Methods: This is a descriptive study in patients with asthma and/or allergic rhinitis, with the approval of the local research committee 2009-3601-46. Patients underwent skin prick tests, with seven standardized extracts of mites (IPI ASACR). The results were analyzed with descriptive statistics.
Results: A total of 150 patients, 109 women and 41 men, with an average age 31 years (±11) were studied. The more common allergic diseases in this group of patients were: asthma and rhinitis 72 and 26%, respectively, and asthma plus rhinitis 3.2%. Positive skin tests for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Dermatophagoides farinae were 82.1% 71.5%, respectively, and for storage mites: A. siro 51.7%, Tyrophagus 47.4%, Glycyphagus 47.7%, B. tropicalis 39.7% and Lepidoglyphus 39.1%. Storage mites produced greater sensitization than house dust mites, 32% vs 10%.
Conclusions: The results show that adult patients with respiratory allergy, in southern Mexico City, have a higher rate of sensitization to storage mites than the one reported in the literature.