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Allergy to Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven) pollen
Author(s) -
Ballero M.,
Ariu A.,
Falagiani Piu P., G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
allergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.363
H-Index - 173
eISSN - 1398-9995
pISSN - 0105-4538
DOI - 10.1034/j.1398-9995.2003.00172.x
Subject(s) - medicine , humanities , philosophy
(1–3). However, this is near the upper limit of settings typically recommended for hot water cylinders, and heat losses incurred during laundering mean the maximum reached in many domestic washing machines may well be considerably lower than this. It has been suggested that commercial laundering might be better able to provide such conditions. Using dataloggers embedded in duvets, temperature profiles for five domestic washing machines were obtained and compared with those for two commercial machines. Heat-escape bioassays (2) and monoclonal enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of vacuumed dust from nine used duvets, were also used to determine reductions in mite and Der p I levels after commercial laundering. The maximum temperature experienced within duvets during laundering varied greatly (range: 32.5–61.9 C), as did the length of time it was sustained (Fig. 1). Mean Der p I levels of 4.6 lg/m (95% CI: 1.7–7.5) and 34.4 lg/g (95% CI: 12.0–56.8) were determined in dust sampled from duvets prior to washing, and found to be significantly reduced (P £ 0.01) by washing. Mean reductions of 99.5% (95% CI: 99.1–99.9) for Der p I per unit area, and 97.7% (95% CI: 95.9– 99.5) per unit mass were recorded. However, only one commercial and two domestic machines (Com. m/c 1 and Dom. m/c 2 and 3) sustained wash temperatures greater than 55 C for more than 10 min, suggesting appreciable mite survival on some samples. Using the best performing machine (Com. m/c 1) a significant reduction (P £ 0.001) in mite numbers (mean: 87.8%; 95% CI: 77.9– 96.7) was demonstrated after laundering of used duvets. This result was unaffected by the incorporation of laundry detergent (P > 0.05). The conclusions are: