Pyroglyphid mites in the High Tatras sanatoria

1. In our work we studied the problematics of house dust fauna in the sanatoria and institutes of the Tatra region, regarding especially the incidence of mites of the family Pyroglyphidae that are considered for the major source of house dust allergen. 2. In eleven places of different altitude in this region, there were in 1982 chosen 13 localities--sanatoria and institutes. Here, once quarterly, were collected house dust samples from beds and floors. 3. In the Locality 1 Helios, Strbské Pleso, the house dust samples were collected in 1976, once in two months, in 1979 once in three months, and in 1982 once quarterly. Here, the involvement of the new--opened sanatorium by house dust mites was studied. 4. House dust samples in the studied localities were collected using the electric vacuum cleaner into the changeable paper bags. The samples were examined by flotation due to Spieksma (1970) and due to the modification of Spieksma's methodics elaborated by Samsinák et al. (1974). 5. The found house dust mites--pyroglyphids were evaluated due to Bronswijk and Sinha (1971) and due to the modification of their methodics elaborated by Samsinák et al. (1974). The classification due to Wharton (1976) was used as well. 6. In every studied locality, in house dust collected from floors and beds, there were identified mites of the family Pyroglyphidae, considered for the major source of house dust allergen. 7. Mites of the family Pyroglyphidae were represented by the genera Dermatophagoides and Euroglyphus, and by the species Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, and Euroglyphus maynei. There were found as well the nymphal instars of the genus Dermatophagoides, in this development degree it is very complicated to determine precisely the species--and that is why the term Dermatophagoides sp. nymphal instar is used. 8. In 1982 there were in the chosen localities collected 764 house dust samples from beds and 20 samples from floors, 186 of them (23.7%) were negative--without any mites. In the positive samples there were identified 1794 arthropods, 1776 were mites and 18 were Psocopterae. Of the total mite number 1263 (71.1%) were mites of the family Pyroglyphidae. 9. The other mite families were represented by 513 pieces, i.e. 28.6% of the total arthropod number. 10. In the studied localities there were identified three species of the family Pyroglyphidae and 15 species of other families, the representatives of the families Ereinaetidae, Tetranychidae (not determined preciselier), and Oribatei.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)