Fauna and Seasonal Abundance of Domestic Mites as Respiratory Allergen in Three Military Areas, North of Iran in 2017 - 2018

Background Domestic mites (DM) refer to all indoor mite species such as house dust mites (HDM) and some of the storage mites that are able to induce IgE-mediated sensitization. These microscopic mites are one of the most known risk factors of allergies and respiratory diseases in homes and other indoor places. Considering the importance of DMs and lack of investigation on DMs in military areas of Iran, this study was designed to determine the fauna and biodiversity of DM in three military areas, North of Iran in 2017 - 2018. It was a cross-sectional study. Each military area was divided into three sampling zones (lieutenant dormitory, soldier dormitory and administrative place). In each sampling zone, seven places were randomly selected and dust samples were collected using a vacuum cleaner for 2 minutes from 1 m2 of the surface. After collection, samples were weighted separately. The mites were counted by a Stereo microscope, mounted in Hoyer’s medium, and identified by standard keys. The data were analyzed using statistical SPSS software version 17 and Microsoft Excel software version 2013 software. A total of 648 dust samples were examined, in total 1043 mites were collected and identified that 741 mites were from six species of DM. The most abundant species were Dermatophagoides farinae (72.74%) and D. pteronyssinus (14.58%), and the less abundant species were Glycyphagus domesticus (0.94%) and Euroglyphusmaynei (0.54%). The most of DMs were found in the lieutenant dormitory (84.3%) and just 1.9% of DMs in the administrative place. The DMs were found almost throughout the year with the highest peaks in Jun. (11.1%), August (13.1%), September (14.7%), and October (11.1%), and the smallest peak in January (3.8%), February (4.2%), and March (3.2%). The results of this study show that all military areas are contaminated by DMs. Although the density of DM did not exceed the risk thresholds (10 mg mites/gram dust or 100 mites/gram dust), in the first and third lieutenant dormitories were near the risk threshold from January to November. Therefore, we suggest the preventive measures, particularly in the lieutenant dormitories, should be more effective than the past.