Dust Mite Allergy – What is important now

The correct and most effective treatment for house dust mite allergies: Avoid contact with allergens

The most important step in the treatment or prevention of house dust mite allergies is to avoid contact with the triggers of the allergy — mite feces, mite remains and mite eggs. Your primary aim should be to reduce house dust mites and house dust as much as possible in order to create a low-allergen living space. An effective and proven measure to prevent house dust mite allergies is to decontaminate your bed, because this is where the allergen concentration is particularly high.

Asthma Bronchiale

What is allergic asthma?

Asthma comes in both allergic and non-allergic forms. Allergic bronchial asthma is one of many atopic diseases, which are characterized by an overreaction of the immune system to external stimuli. In allergic asthma, asthma attacks are triggered by an allergic reaction on contact with allergens such as house dust mites. The narrowing of the bronchi leads attacks of breathlessness that are particularly distressing. The airways provide a strong defensive response — the respiratory muscles contract and the airways respond by secreting a thick mucus. Representing approximately 80 percent of all cases, allergy-related asthma is the commonest of all asthma diseases.

House dust mite allergies are a risk factor for bronchial asthma?

Sneezing fits and a runny or blocked nose are signs of a house dust mite allergy in most people affected. If these symptoms are not taken seriously and are not treated in time, the allergic disease can spread from the upper to the lower airways. The typical signs of a lower airway allergy are irritation of the throat and coughing fits. The onset of this severe development is a sign that the disease is progressing to the bronchi, which can eventually lead to chronic bronchial asthma. If a house dust mite allergy is not diagnosed or treated correctly, this progression takes place within 5 to 15 years in approximately 20 to 50 percent of affected allergy sufferers.

Prevention of allergic bronchial asthma

Asthma is not curable, and once a person has developed asthma, they will learn to live with the illness with the help of personalized, life-long treatment consisting of medication, physical exercise and breathing techniques. To prevent the development of asthma, it is important to take allergic symptoms seriously and to treat them in good time. The avoidance of allergens is the first and most important step in treatment. The less the allergy sufferer comes into contact with the allergen triggering the symptoms, the less the immune system and airways will be irritated.

Avoiding contact with mite allergens

In particular, mite allergens are found in extremely high numbers in beds. Allergo encasings reliably enclose your bed linen and protect against the inhalation of mite allergens during the night. As allergens are unable to pass through Allergo encasings, they are ideal for the treatment of mite allergies and the prevention of asthma. With the addition of other easy-to-implement measures in the home environment, exposure to allergens and the risk of developing asthma caused by house dust mites can on the whole be reduced to a low level.

Shellfish

Crustaceans such as crabs, shrimps, scampi, prawns, crayfish and lobster are a major trigger of food allergies and life-threatening anaphylactic shock in Asia. The tropomyosin muscle structure protein that they contain is a potent allergen.

The closer the degree of relationship between allergenic substances, the higher the probability of developing cross-sensitivity. The tropomyosin protein is regarded as an important pan-allergen among invertebrates. If you suffer from an allergy against shellfish and crustacean species, the allergic reaction can extend to other types of invertebrate. Cross-reactions with mollusks (mussels, snails and squid) and house dust mites, which are also crustaceans, are therefore not uncommon.

As a consequence, an original allergy to crustaceans may extend to mites and lead to a house dust mite allergy. At the same time, the house dust mite is a primary sensitizer and trigger factor for the development of a crustacean and mollusk allergy.

Prevention and treatment of seafood allergies

• Avoid allergenic food

In general, sufferers should refrain from eating allergenic food. In extreme cases, it is even advisable to avoid vapors given off during preparation or any contact with the foodstuff. In addition to avoiding shellfish and/or seafood, caution should be taken when consuming other fish-based products.

• Avoid house dust mites — they are a trigger factor

As house dust mites can cause a sensitization to seafood, it is advisable to avoid contact with dust mites and dust mite allergens as early as possible.  This also applies if you have a preexisting seafood allergy. In addition to reducing mite allergens in the home, it is advisable to buy encasings to cover your bed linen. This will drastically reduce contact with mites.

Did you know?

• Shellfish allergies particularly restrict people’s lives in regions where a lot of seafood or sushi is eaten
• Even people who do not have a shellfish allergy can be sensitized by the house dust mite. In these cases, the house dust mite is the beginning of a much more severe shellfish allergy. That’s why it makes sense to protect people against dust mites, even if they do not currently suffer from a shellfish allergy

Allergic Neurodermatitis

Your doctor has diagnosed you or your child as suffering from neurodermatitis. These days, neurodermitic illnesses aren’t rare. Between ten and twenty percent of children and one to three percent of adults suffer from neurodermatitis. It isn’t completely clear why someone should suffer from neurodermatitis, however. The tendency for the illness to develop is often inherited. Therefore, the risk of children suffering from neurodermatitis is especially high in families in which one or both parents suffer from allergies. Scientists have identified different genes which may be related to the occurrence of neurodermatitis, although a person’s genetic inheritance isn’t only responsible for the occurrence of the illness. Atopic eczema, or atopic dermatitis, as neurodermatitis is known in professional medical circles, also occurs without a hereditary disposition, which means external influences also have to play a role. Therefore, neurodermatitis is not an inherited illness in the classic sense.

Trigger factors for neurodermatitis

Trigger factors for neurodermitic attacks can, for instance, include environmental pollution, ozone, exhaust fumes, perfume, tobacco smoke and chemicals (especially cleaning agents), as well as excessively frequent washing and showering. Climatic factors such as extreme cold, heat or dryness can also have a negative impact on sensitive skin. Many allergy sufferers break out in a skin rash when they are under stress or if they become emotional. People who suffer from neurodermatitis have a particularly sensitive immune system which reacts to everything. This means allergens can also be viewed as being triggers, including, among others house dust mites, flower pollen, animal hair and food allergens. The house dust mite allergen is a very frequent trigger factor, for which a so-called encasing is recommended – an allergen-proof duvet cover that effectively prevents contact with dust mite allergens. For this reason, with a case of neurodermatitis that is allergy-based, as with all other neurodermitic illnesses, providing protection against allergens is especially sensible and important. As a key component in collaboration with the skin preparations, these encasings help to reduce the trigger factors for neurodermitic attacks.

The itch-scratch cycle

People with neurodermatitis usually have extremely dry skin, which is likely to be based on a changed composition of the natural oils in the skin. If the protective function of the skin barrier is damaged, the skin loses much more moisture than healthy skin. Allergens or substances can therefore penetrate the skin more easily, which generally leads to unbearable itching, and a vicious itch-scratch cycle then sets in: the skin is inflamed and itches but the scratching only provides temporary relief to the symptoms, as the itchiness always returns. In addition to this, an oversensitive immune system overreacts to harmless stimuli by sending out special forces, T-cells, towards the skin, which leads to the release of inflammatory agonists such as histamine. These messengers themselves stimulate specific nerve fibers, and thereby trigger the itching. Due to the continuous scratching, more and more messengers are now released, which means that the itching increases all the more. The inflamed skin becomes more and more damaged which means allergens, chemicals, bacteria, viruses and fungi can penetrate into the body more easily on the scratched areas. It is therefore important to bring the itch-scratch cycle to an end, and to protect and strengthen the skin barrier. Specially made suits are available for children that prevent them from scratching during the night.

There is as yet no cure for neurodermatitis, but it is possible to relieve the symptoms by avoiding contact with the triggers, caring for your skin appropriately and exposing yourself to as little stress as possible. In especially serious cases, the doctor can prescribe you with medicines.

Things to know about dust mite allergy