Fauna and geographical distribution of house dust mites in Korea

, Ree, H I; , Jeon, S H; , Lee, I Y; , Hong, C S; , Lee, D K

doi:1997.35.1.9

Korean J Parasito > Volume 35(1):1997 > Article

Original Article


Korean J Parasitol. 1997 Mar;35(1):9-17. English. Published online Mar 20, 1997. http://dx.doi.org/10.3347/kjp.1997.35.1.9
Copyright © 1997 by The Korean Society for Parasitology


Fauna and geographical distribution of house dust mites in Korea
H I Ree,^*¹S H Jeon,¹I Y Lee,¹C S Hong,² and D K Lee³
¹Department of Parasitology, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-752, Korea.

Received January 04, 1997; Accepted February 11, 1997.
Abstract
During the period of 1933-1994, house dusts were collected from 65 homes at 10 different localities by operating electric vacuum cleaners. House dust mites were isolated from 10 g dust by applying the modified wet sieving method. Total 7,257 mites were collected and 23 species were identified. Among them, Dermatophagoides farinae (DF) was predominant (65.3% of the total), followed by D. pteronyssinus (DP) (20.6%) and Tyrophagus putrescentiae (TP) (6.5%). Rhizoglyphus robini, Sancassania phyllophagianus, Cheyletus traussarti and Scheloribates latipes were the first findings from Korea. DF was predominant in Seoul (66.8%). Kwangju (63.6%), inland of Pusan (79.6%), Inchon (96.5%). Taejon (83.9%), Chonju (87.15) and Chongju (95.2%), whereas DP was predominant in Yongkwang-ub (72.5%) and Yongdo (island) of Pusan (64.9%), and TP in Chunchon (38.2%). The localities where DP and TP were predominant showed higher relative humidity in air (> 73% RH). Among 62 study homes, DF, DP and TP were found in 24.6% of the homes, co-habitat of two species in 48.1% and one species in 27.3%. DF was predominant in 63.5% of the homes studied. DP in 29.6% and TP in 6.9%. In 10 g of the house dust, less than 99 mites were found in 49 homes (70.0%), 100-499 mites in 11 homes (15.7%). 500-999 mites in 3 homes (4.3%) and more than 1,000 mites in 2 homes (2.9%). No mite was found in 5 homes (7.1%). In order to evaluate environmental factors affecting the population density of house dust mites, house type, age of house construction, size of the house, number of the family and frequency of the cleaning were compared with the number of mites, and none of the above factors were statistically correlated with the mite density.

Tables


	Table 1 Result of mite collections from house dusts in 1993-1994 at 10 locations in Korea


	Table 2 Average number (per cent) of three major species of house dust mites at 10 locations in Korea (Number/10 gm dust/home)


	Table 3 Co-habitat of three predominant species (DF, DP ang TP)^a) at 9 location of Korea


	Table 4 Number (per cent) of homes in which DF, DP or TP was predominant specise


	Table 5 Number of homes with mite densities (average number of mites per 10 gm of the coarse house dust)


	Table 6 Comparison of house dust mite densities between apartments and private houses


	Table 7 Comparison of house dust mite densities among different of the houses


	Table 8 Correlation between house dust mite densities and cleaning frequencies of the houses


	Table 9 Comparison of house dust mite densities among different family sizes


	Table 10 Comparison of house dust mite densities among different ages of house construction

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