Extrinsic asthma and environmental allergens

Abstract

House dust mites allergens are one of the most common antigens able to induce a high degree of sensitization in a general population. Owing to the possibility of quantifying the amount of major mite allergens in the environment, epidemiological studies have led to propose threshold values above which there is an increased risk for the occurrence of mite sensitizing, for the development of asthma and for the occurrence of symptoms. All these studies and some others dealing with the number of mites in house dust support the hypothesis that exposure to house dust mites may have a major influence on developing allergic diseases.