Animal allergens and their control

Abstract

Animal allergens play a significant role in the pathogenesis of asthma and allergic rhinitis, and are potent causes of acute and chronic symptoms. Although cat and dog allergens are the most important, exposure to a wide variety of other furred animals is not uncommon. Recent reports state that 60% to 70% of households in the western world have at least one pet. Because of this significant exposure, hypersensitivity to animals has become increasingly important. This review focuses on the importance of animal allergens, concentrating on cat and dog allergens, but including others as well. It also discusses the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, and management of animal allergy.

Mouse Model of Cat Allergic Rhinitis and Intranasal Liposome-Adjuvanted Refined Fel d 1 Vaccine

“…Clinical manifestations of the cat allergy include chronic allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma which impair the patient’s capacity and increase economic burden. The cat allergens may be found in places without cats or they remain for many months after the cats were taken away and the places were regularly cleaned [ 3 , 4 ]. Therefore avoiding cats for morbidity intervention is a difficult practice for the cat allergic subjects.…”

Allergen Control in Asthma

“…Some studies report that 50-70% of the children with bronchial asthma have sensitivity to pets [34,36,37]. Such high rates are the results of the trend of feeding pets at home that leads to high level exposure sensitization [38]. Among pets, cat allergy is the most common type of animal allergy.…”

“…In the studies conducted on that issue, it has been reported that HEPA filters and vacuum cleaning lead to short term decrease in the cat/dog allergen levels, however, they do not change the levels of dust allergen concentrations [11,14,40]. Results of studies have suggested that the removal of pets from house has provided optimal pharmacotherapy reduced airway responsiveness significantly to methacholine, but no significant differences has occurred in the change of FEV1 [37,38,41]. Furthermore, it has also been stated in this study that the removal of pets from the house has led to a reduce in the doses of inhaled corticosteroids and in the frequency of follow-up visits.…”

“…In this case, environmental control precautions should be taken seriously, such as keeping the pet outside of the bedroom, room air filtration, washing the pet once a week, keeping it in a separate area inside the home, and using HEPA filters. Nevertheless, presence of pets inside the houses always poses a risk for sensitized people [38].…”

“…Modern lifestyle, emission gases of vehicles and air pollution are important risk factors for respiratory allergy for urban life. Controlling those allergens identified as outdoor is rather difficult however reducing exposure to those allergens might be an ideal approach [3,38]. Individual efforts to control outdoor allergens might be insufficient since their sources are outdoor environment.…”