Vacuum Cleaning Does Not Sufficiently Reduce Mite Allergens From Beddings
PAKIT VICHYANOND, M.D.*, NUALANONG VISITSUNTORN, M.D.*, SIRIRUT RUENGRUK, B.Sc.*, NAT MALAINUAL, M.Sc. **
Affiliation : * Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, **Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10700, Thailand.
Objectives : The authors prospectively compared a short term efficacy of two types of regular vacuum cleaners (Nationai-N and Hoover-H) with a specialized cleaner (Vorwerk-V) in the removal of mite allergens from mattresses.
Materials and Methods : Thirty-five dormitory beds with high mite allergen concentrations at the baseline period (month 0) were selected. They were matched into three groups according to group I mite allergen concentrations (N 11 beds, H 12 beds, V 12 beds). Vacuuming was performed on months 1 and 4 by the assigned vacuum cleaner in each group. Immediately after, mattresses were vacuumed by a reference cleaner (another National vacuum cleaner) at both months. Vacuum ing was performed over the entire bed for 2 minutes/square meter. Group I mite allergens (sums of Der p I and Der f f) were measured; concentrations and total mite allergens removed by the tested cleaners as well as by the reference cleaner, at various time points, were compared.
Results : Ability to remove mite allergens by vacuum cleaners depends on weight of dust removed and also on mite concentrations in the dust samples. Despite the fact that H and V appeared to remove higher mite allergens than N, such differences were not statistically significant (p > 0.05), both at month 1, and 4. Surprisingly, mattress mite concentrations removed by both high capacity cleaner groups (V & H) increased at month 4, whereas, it remained unchanged in the third group (N). This increase led to a concomitant increase in total allergen removed by V and H. Never theless, remaining total allergens in the mattresses in V and H, as judged from the amount of allergens obtained by the reference cleaner, increased at month 1 and 4 compared to baseline values (p < 0.05), whereas, no change was observed in N.
Conclusion : Although high capacity vacuum cleaners removed a large amount of mite allergens from mattresses, they did not sufficiently reduce mattress mite allergen burden as deter mined by the reference cleaner during this short term study.
Keywords : Mites, Allergen, Vacuum Cleaner, Mattress
