Can house dust mite-triggered atopic dermatitis be alleviated using acaricides?

Abstract

House dust mite (HDM) allergens are the most important triggers for atopic dermatitis. Reducing exposure to these allergens may alleviate clinical symptoms. Chemicals with acaricidal activity have been used to treat upholstered furniture, carpets and bedding with the aim to reduce HDM allergen exposure. These chemicals, by reducing HDM, can decrease the concentration of mite allergens in dust but improvements in clinical symptoms are not always apparent. Clinical improvement is more likely to occur if bedding has been treated rather than carpets and upholstery. Future control strategies should be aimed at treating bedding. Permethrin is a very efficient killer of mites. It is used topically to treat scabies and head lice and is impregnated in bed nets to prevent mosquito bites. Even when applied to the skin in high concentrations, it has a very low toxicity in humans and other mammals. Permethrin-impregnated bedding may prove to be the best control method in the treatment of HDM allergen-triggered atopic conditions.

Effectiveness of education for control of house dust mites and cockroaches in Seoul, Korea

“…Acaricides and permethrin-impregnated mattress-covers can be highly effective against dust mites (Cameron, 1997;Cameron and Hill, 2002). Moreover, contrary to the proposal by Colloff (1990) that for specific nutritive reasons, mites thrive best in adult bedding, our data indicate that mite densities are higher child bedding, though prevalences were equivalent.…”

Canine atopic dermatitis: a retrospective study of 266 cases examined at the University of California, Davis, 1992–1998. Part I. Clinical features and allergy testing results

“…Dogs that exhibited clinical signs in fall and winter showed fewer positive reactions to dust mites. In other studies 44,45 in which dust mites were counted from households, dust mites reached maximum concentration in late summer and the beginning of fall. One cannot say that allergies to dust mites are more common in indoor dogs, because if true, one would expect more positive reactions to dust mites, not fewer, in fall and winter in Northern California (during the rainy season), when dogs are commonly housed indoors.…”

Double-blind placebo-controlled house dust mite control measures in adult patients with atopic dermatitis

“…Our study exclusively involved adults, which may be one explanation for its negative outcome. It is possible that concentrating on bed coverings may omit treatment of mites elsewhere in the home environment, but previous studies have identified this as the most important factor 8,16,17 ,.…”

“…It is possible that concentrating on bed coverings may omit treatment of mites elsewhere in the home environment, but previous studies have identified this as the most important factor. 8,16,17 Until now, no subjective parameters in house dust mite control measures for patients with atopic dermatitis have been assessed. Some patients in the active treatment group reported less pruritus-induced sleeplessness even though no effect was seen regarding the objective parameters.…”