BACKGROUND Cutaneous manifestations of avian mite bites are not well recognized by physicians or patients. Clinical signs and symptoms are usually caused by bites from avian mites that have infested domestic poultry or birds nesting in or near human habitation. This report details 2 cases of pruritic papules acquired from avian mites that had infested pet gerbils and reviews the dermatologic li...

There is clear evidence that house dust mite populations in many climatic regions can potentially be controlled by modifying temperature and humidity within dwellings. This paper describes a current multi-disciplinary UK funded research project to develop a predictive model of house dust mite response to varying hygrothermal conditions. The project involves the development of two component mode...

It is recorded the occurrence of Pyemotes tritici (Lagréze-Fossat & Montagné) on Cathartus quadricollis (Guérin-Méneville) and Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius), reducing insect’s populations in laboratory conditions. This mite was observed feeding on larvae and pupae of C. quadricollis, and adults of C. maculatus. The mite toxin quickly paralyzed larvae and adults attacked. The mite P. trit...

This paper reports on ectoparasitic chigger mites found on small mammals in Yunnan Province, southwest China. Data were accumulated from 19 investigation sites (counties) between 2001 and 2009. A total of 10 222 small mammal hosts were captured and identified; these represented 62 species, 34 genera and 11 families in five orders. From the body surfaces of these 10 222 hosts, a total of 92 990 ...

Twenty one adult patients with asthma, with positive skin test responses to the European house dust mite, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, were randomly allocated to a control group or to a group applying house dust mite avoidance measures. These included an initial application of liquid nitrogen to mattresses and bedroom carpets to kill the live house dust mite population. Histamine airway resp...

Scabies, a parasitic skin infestation by the burrowing "itch" mite Sarcoptes scabiei, causes significant health problems for children and adults worldwide. Crusted scabies is a particularly severe form of scabies in which mites multiply into the millions, causing extensive skin crusting. The symptoms and signs of scabies suggest host immunity to the scabies mite, but the specific resistant resp...

Digestive proteases of the phytophagous mite Tetranychus urticae have been characterised by comparing their activity in body and faecal extracts. Aspartyl, cathepsin B- and L-like and legumain activities were detected in both mite bodies and faeces, with a specific activity of aspartyl and cathepsin L-like proteases about 5- and 2-fold higher, respectively, in mite faeces than in bodies. In gen...

BACKGROUND Skin contact with house dust mites may contribute to atopic dermatitis and other skin diseases. We sought to determine if molecules from house dust mites could influence the release of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines from epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts grown in a human skin equivalent (HSE) model. METHODS HSEs consisting of an epidermis of keratinocytes wit...

The Varroa mite has many deleterious impacts on honey bee colonies. These impacts are well known and include, for example, the weakness of honey bees by feeding on the haemolymph (Rosenkranz et al. 2010), transportation of viruses to host bees including Kashmir bee virus (Chen et al. 2004), suppresses the immunity of honey bees (Shen et al. 2005), impact bee wing Shape (Cakmak et al. 2011) and ...

Population abundance of red spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch., was studied in cucmber, ribbed gourd, bitter gourd, snake gourd, aroids and teasle gourd and efficacy of four new acaricides were tested against this pest in brinjal at the farmer’s field of Norsingdi during 2009-2010. At the same time, the spatial distribution of this pest in brinjal crop was also studied. Results indicated th...