Methods: Indoor allergen sampling was collected by families of allergic children referred to our Allergy clinic. Two groupings were based on location of residence, either locally, Miami Florida (MF), or from Latin America (LA). LA children were from Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Venezuela, or Central America. All MF children were of Hispanic/Latino descent, first or second generation, from similar countries. A dust collection device, (Duststream, Indoor Biotechnologies, Charlottesville) was used to vacuum the bedroom samples. These samples came from the mattress, pillows, floors, rugs, and A/C vents. After collecting, samples were weighed, extracted, vortexed, and incubated. For allergen detection, MARIA (Indoor Biotechnologies) was used to quantify levels of dust mite (DM) allergens, (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Der p 1; Dermatophagoides farinae, Der f 1), and Felis domesticus (Fel d 1), Canis familiaris (Can f 1), Blattella germanica (Bla g 2). Quantification of these allergens was performed on a multiplexing instrument, Luminex 200, (Luminex Corporation, Austin, TX).
Results: Samples from 63 MF and 69 LA were returned. There was a statistical significance in total DM levels between both locations. The mean DM level was 118.7 ng/mL from MF and 241.0 ng/mL from LA (*p>0.05). Both were in the moderate range for clinical exposure, 2.37 mcg/mL and 4.82 mcg/mL. Contribution of the total DM significance was from the DP species. The mean DP level was 34.1 ng/mL from MF compared to 188.6 ng/mL from LA (**p>0.001). The clinical exposure of DP was moderate at 3.77 mcg/mL from LA, but in the low range at 0.68 mcg/mL from MF. No significant difference was found in DF between locations, but a minor trend towards more DF exposures in MF rather than LA exists. There was no difference found between locations with the other allergens tested. High cat allergen exposure was found in MF but with variability and miniscule levels found in LA. Moderate dog and very low cockroach clinical exposures were found in both locations.
Conclusions: Our study reveals intriguing indoor allergen levels based on different environments that may contribute to the epidemiology of allergy/asthma in Hispanic/Latino children.