The mite Varroa destructor is an obligatory ectoparasite of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) and is one of the major threats to apiculture worldwide. We previously reported that honey bees fed on double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) with a sequence homologous to that of the Israeli acute paralysis virus are protected from the viral disease. Here we show that dsRNA ingested by bees is transferred to the Va...

The diagnosis of scabies infestation is straightforward in cases where mite parts are largely visible; however, mites are often not captured in a specimen's planes of section. Polariscopic examination is a fast and simple adjunctive diagnostic tool to light microscopy. We describe the unique polariscopic findings in scabies infestation. Two cases of crusted scabies and eight cases of typical sc...

The role of Demodex folliculorum in perioral dermatitis is not satisfactory explained. Our purpose was to assess the density of D. folliculorum in perioral dermatitis and evaluate the relationship of the mite count to previous therapy with topical steroids. A standardized skin surface biopsy of the chin was performed in 82 female patients with perioral dermatitis and in 70 control female subjec...

Sheep scab caused by the mite Psoroptes ovis (Hering) is a highly contagious disease of sheep. As a first step in developing a mite-derived vaccine for controlling the disease, the soluble antigens in mite extracts which induce an immune response in sheep were identified by electrophoretic and immunoblotting techniques. At least 22 proteins were present in P. ovis extracts as revealed by Coomas...

House dust mites are widely distributed in the human habitat and work environment and produce very powerful allergens. The most important allergy-causing mites found in homes worldwide are the house dust mites Dermatophagoides farinae and D. pteronyssinus and the storage mite Blomia tropicalis. It is important to know which mite species are present in a geographical area when performing diagnos...

Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are ubiquitous in high eukaryotic genomes. More than 178,000 MITE sequences of 338 families are present in the genome of rice (Oryza sativa) cultivar Nipponbare. Interestingly, only two of the 338 MITE families have homologous sequences in the genome of Brachypodium distachyon, a relative in the grass family. Therefore, the vast majority o...

BACKGROUND Several chemical treatments have been recommended for reducing mite and other allergen levels in carpets, including the protein-denaturing agent tannic acid (TA). OBJECTIVE We evaluated the efficacy of TA and other treatments on mite and cat allergens in carpets within houses. The effects of TA were assessed on Der p 1 and Der f 1, on group II mite allergens, and on the major cat a...

In this overview of investigations into mite allergy in Iceland and of the current understanding of the sources of exposure, 2 major categories of mite-induced allergies were encountered. The first was house dust mite allergy due to house dust mites from unknown sources, and the second was barn allergy caused by mites connected with the degradation of stored hay. Characteristics of these diseas...

Myodes glareolus and Apodemus flavicollis support a large and diverse community of arthropod ectoparasites. This study of rodents in a Mazurian woodland sampled at monthly intervals between 2007 and 2009 revealed an ectoparasite community composed of 2 species of tick, 1 louse, 9 flea species, 7 species of gamasid mites, 4 fur mites and one trombiculid mite. A strong seasonality was noted in th...

Background Immunotherapy with mite allergens is effective both in rhinitis and asthma. However, injection immunotherapy carries a high risk of systemic adverse events, so, the sublingual route (SLIT) is being used more frequently. Efficacy of SLIT in asthma has been widely studied, however, in Cuba, the therapeutic effect of mite vaccines of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dp), D.siboney (Ds) a...