SELECTED ARTICLES FROM THE RECENT LITERATURE 2005
9/26/05
Allergens in day-care facilities
Summary
Background - With 63% of US children under 5 years of age in regular child care, day-care facilities could be an important source of exposure to indoor allergens.
Findings - Arbes et al of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH) examined levels of 7 indoor allergens in vacuumed dust samples from 89 day-care facilities in two North Carolina counties. Each allergen was detected in 52-100% of the facilities. Levels of 5 of the 7 allergens were not statistically different from levels found in most southern US homes. Levels of cat and dog dander, mite allergens and alternaria were significantly higher in dust obtained from the vacuumed carpet than from vacuumed hard floors. The authors concluded that day-care facilities might be a significant source of clinically relevant exposures to indoor allergens.
Reference
J Allergy Clin Immunol 2005;116:133-9
Editor's Comments
The findings in this study were not particularly surprising to me. Indeed, one might expect the levels of indoor allergens to be even higher than in individual homes because of large number of children present in day-care facilities during the day. As found recently in school room studies, there are other sources of indoor allergen exposure than the homes of individual patients. Thus, even rigorous allergen avoidance measures in the home may be only partially successful in reducing the total daily allergenic load and the resultant clinical allergies.
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