DUST MITE, COCKROACH AND CAT ALLERGENS IN ASTHMA

这些研究的目的是提高对 室内过敏原在哮喘中的作用， 通过减少暴露于过敏原来治疗疾病的方案 在家里。 在美国，哮喘影响着至少800万人。美国， 这种疾病的流行率似乎在增加， 严重性。 对急诊室患者的病例对照研究表明， 大于或等于40%的成人哮喘和高达75%的 儿童哮喘与室内环境致敏有关 过敏原 这些研究利用快速敏感的单克隆 基于抗体的尘螨变应原免疫测定 Dermatophagoides属，猫Felis arteriticus和 蟑螂等。 德国小蠊 为了解 儿童期接触与哮喘患病率的相关性 将对12-14岁的儿童进行评估，并与过敏原相关 在不同气候区的房屋中。 这些研究将 被设计来回答是否暴露在房子里影响 儿童的敏感性，以及高水平的接触是否 会增加哮喘的发病率 结果还应 允许重新评估拟议的阈值水平， 与螨或猫致敏风险增加相关 过敏原和哮喘的发展。 本 实验还将侧重于减少暴露于 尘螨和猫过敏原。 特别是，两者的影响 物理措施（例如，覆盖床垫，热洗床上用品， 清除地毯）和化学措施（如杀螨剂或 应用于地毯和沙发的变性剂）对空气中尘埃的影响 将研究螨过敏原。 同样，详细措施 将研究用于控制猫过敏原暴露的方法（例如空气 过滤、清除地毯和清洗猫）。 最后， 将进行过敏原避免的对照试验， 因哮喘入院的儿童， 哮喘诊所，以及过敏性哮喘的螨过敏患者 皮炎 长期目标是制定有效和 减少接触过敏原的现实方法， 避免过敏原是否应该作为一线治疗 对于这些患者。

The objective of these studies is to improve understanding of the role that indoor allergens play in asthma and to establish effective regimes for treating the disease by reducing exposure to allergens in homes. Asthma affects at least 8 million people in N. America, and the disease appears to be increasing both in prevalence and severity. Case control studies on emergency room patients suggest that greater or equal to 40% of adult asthma and as much as 75% of asthma among children is related to sensitization to indoor allergens. These studies utilize rapid sensitive monoclonal antibody based immunoassays for allergens derived from dust mites of the genus Dermatophagoides, the cat Felis domesticus and cockroaches, eg. Blatella germanica. In order to understand the relevance of exposure in childhood, tbe prevalence of asthma among chfldren age 12-14 will be assessed and related to the allergen levels in houses in different climatic areas. These studies will be designed to answer whether exposure in houses influences the sensitization of children and also whether high levels of exposure can increase the prevalence of asthma. The results should also allow a reevaluation of the proposed threshold levels that are associated with increased risk of sensitization to mite or cat allergens and with the development of asthma. The present experiments will also focus on techniques for reducing exposure to dust mite and cat allergens. In particular, the effects of both physical measures (e.g. covering mattresses, hot washing bedding, removing carpets) and chemical measures (e.g. acaricides or denaturing agents applied to carpets and sofas) on airborne dust mite allergen will be investigated. Similarly, detailed measures for controlling exposure to cat allergens will be studied (e.g. air filtration, removing carpets and washing the cat). Finally, controlled trials of allergen avoidance will be carried out on children admitted to hospital with asthma, patients presenting to clinics with asthma, and also on mite allergic patients with atopic dermatitis. The long term objective is to develop effective and realistic methods for reducing exposure to allergens and to answer whether allergen avoidance should be a first line form of treatment for these patients.