This report has been prepared by an EAACI task force representing the five EAACI Sections and the EAACI Executive Committee composed of specialists that reflect the broad opinion on allergy expressed by various clinical and basic specialties dealing with allergy. The aim of this report is to propose a revised nomenclature for allergic and related reactions that can be used independently of target organ or patient age group. The nomenclature is based on the present knowledge of the mechanisms which initiate and mediate allergic reactions. However, the intention has not been to revise the nomenclature of nonallergic hypersensitivity.

Summary The prevalence of storage mite allergy was investigated in an epidemiological study of respiratory symptoms in farmers on Gotland, an island in the Baltic Sea. A questionnaire concerning work‐related and chronic symptoms from the airways and eyes was completed by 2578 farmers. A sample of 440 farmers subsequently underwent examination comprising skin‐prick tests (animal danders, pollens, moulds and house dust mite), blood sampling for RAST against four storage mites (Acarus siro, Lepidoglyphus destructor. Tyrophagus putrescentiae and Glycyphagus domesticus) and total IgE analyses. Immediate onset hypersensitivity reactions in the airways and eyes were very common among active farmers on Gotland, the prevalence being as high as 40.0%. The prevalence of atopic allergy was 15.6%. Allergy to storage mites was diagnosed, from the case history and a positive RAST to at least one of the four storage mites, in fifty‐two of 440 studied farmers (12%), corresponding to a calculated prevalence of storage mite allergy in the whole farming population of Gotland of 6.2%. The corresponding prevalence among farmers with hypersensitivity symptoms was 15.4%and among those with possibly IgE‐mediated symptoms it was as high as 37.8%. The present study clearly demonstrates a high prevalence of allergy to storage mites among farmers with respiratory symptoms.

Our results indicate that polymorphisms and haplotypes in the haplotype block of GPR154 are associated with asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, and sensitization in European children.