[The relationship between the skin allergy test and house dust mites]

Since 1960 it has been known that house dust mites are related to allergy and that they cause pulmonary tract diseases. There are various house dust mites and among these Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Trouessart, 1897) and Dermatophagoides farinae (Hughes, 1961) are best known with regard to their medical importance and morphological characteristics. Skin tests are used to determine the role of mites in allergic diseases. The tests are performed by using D. pteronyssinus and D. farinae antigens. In order to study, the concordance between the skin test results and the presence of house dust mites, dust samples from the houses of 49 patients diagnosed with allergic diseases who underwent skin tests were taken to investigate the presence of mites in dust. House dust mites were determined in 23 (46.3%) of the houses. Mites were found in the houses of 15 (50.0%) of 30 patients with positive skin test results and 8 (42.0%) of 19 patients with negative skin test results. There was no significant difference between the skin test positivity and negativity in the presence of house dust mites (P>0,005). In conclusion, we thought that it was necessary to evaluate the presence of mites in the houses of people who have allergic symptoms even if they had negative skin test results.