Abstract
Mite collections were carried out in the residences of allergic, 5 asthmatic and 1 atopic dermatitis, and non-allergic children, 5 non-asthmatic, living in and around Naha City, Okinawa Prefecture, from Oct. 1990 to Oct. 1991. Nineteen species of mites were isolated from the houses. Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus was the dominant species in all the houses with the distribution as follows : residence of asthmatic children 76.5-96.1%, child with atopic dermatitis 88.0% and non-asthmatic children 66.8-93.6%. Cheyletidae was second in dominance. In conjunction with D. pteronyssinus, the two accounted for 92.4 (86.8-98.7) and 91.5 (71.7-96.2)%, respectively, of the mites in the residences of allergic and non-allergic children. Very few D. farinae were found in the house dust collected, being 0.0-0.1 and 0.0-0.6% in the houses of allergic and non-allergic children, respectively. Seasonal variation in the distribution was also observed. D. pteronyssinus was dominant throughout the period. However, for the other species, Acaridae, Cheyletidae and Glycyphagidae were high in number in April whereas Euphthiracaridae increased in February and July. The highest number of mites was 62,275 and 81,000 in 1g of fine dust collected from the houses of allergic and non-allergic children, respectively. Generally, the number of mites collected from the houses of allergic and non-allergic children increased in May and again from August to October. There was no significant difference in the number and fauna of mites isolated in the residences of allergic and nonallergic.
