STUDY OF THE DOMESTIC MITE FAUNA OF FARMS IN GERMANY - A CROSS-SECTION ANALYSIS

Storage mites are important sources of airborne allergens, especially in farms. A mite survey was performed in the working, transition and l iving areas of 121 farms in 5 regions of Germany. Dust samples from 14 places within each farm were collected and analysed microscopically. 953 out of 1,460 samples (65.3%) contained 612,240 living mites, repre senting 571,013 astigmatic mites (93.3%) in 924 grams of dust (63.3%) and 35,430 prostigmatic mites (5,8%) in 516 grams of dust (35.3%). 93% of all mites belonged to the order Astigmata (storage and house dust mite species). 723 out of 859 samples of the working area (84%), 47 ou t of 121 samples of the transition area (38%) and 154 out of 480 sampl es of the living area (32%) contained astigmatic mites. 36 Astigmata a nd 14 Prostigmata mite species were identified. According to abundance and steadiness of the important astigmatic mite species the following order was found in the working, transition and living area: Lepidogly phus destructor (Ld) > Glycyphagus domesticus (Gd) > Acarus sire (As) > Blomia tjibodas (Bt) > Tyrophagus longior (Tl)> Dermatophagoides pte ronyssinus (Dp) > Chortoglyphus arcuatus (Ca) > Thyreophagus entomopha gus (Te) > Tyrophagus putrescentiae (Tp) > Euroglyphus longior (El) > Tyrophagus palmarum (Tpa) > Acarus farris (Af) > Acarus immobilis (Ai) < Gohieria fusca (Gf). Samples of the working area alone showed the f ollowing ranking: Ld > Gd > As > Tl > Bt > Ca > Te > Tp > El > Tpa > A f > Ai > Gf. In the transition area the ranking was as followed: Bt > Gd > Tl > Dp > Ca > Tp > E. maynei (Em) > Ld > As > Af > Gf > D. farin ae (Df). In the living area the ranking list was as followed: Dp > Df > Bt > Gd > Em > Ld > Tp > Gf > Af > As > Me > Te. Initial investigati ons showed sensitizations to some of these new mite species in Germany among farmers and urban dwellers.