House dust mite allergens in military barracks

Allergens of house dust mites play an important role in the pathogenesis of perennial allergy and bronchial asthma. Many data are available about expo sure to house dust mite allergens for persons in private homes and public b uildings but hardly any for military personnel at their places of duty. We present the results of a study of house dust mite allergens in German barra cks. Mite allergen levels were determined in 131 mattresses from 6 barracks using monoclonal antibodies against Der p 1 and Der fl by the ELISA method . Generally, we found low mite allergen concentrations. Only 3% of all samp les exceeded the proposed "threshold" level of 2,000 ng/g dust. Total extra ctable dust increased with the age of the mattresses and was highest in mat tresses older than 20 years (maximum 42 g/m(2)). There was no correlation b etween dust contents and mite allergen contents. We conclude that exposure to mite allergens in barracks does not pose a risk to military personnel.