Print version ISSN 0256-9574 SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.100 no.3
Cape Town Mar. 2010 Indoor and outdoor allergens Our knowledge
of disease is often added to incrementally. In his editorial,
Potter1 notes that two papers published in this issue of SAMJ2,3
add to the growing body of published information on allergens
and allergies in southern Africa. Seedat et al.2 studied indoor
and outdoor allergen sensitisation in the Free State. They
identified sensitisation to a previously unrecognised outdoor
allergen (the spider mite, Tetranychus urticae) in the region
and also found that the sensitisation rate to house-dust mites
in patients with allergic rhinitis is a significant 46% for
Dermatophygoides pteronyssinus and 44% for D. farinae. High
levels of sensitisation to the spider mite have also been
reported from the Hex River Valley. Since many subjects
sensitised to spider mite are simultaneously polysensitised to
other outdoor and indoor allergens, the clinical significance of
this finding has yet to be studied,