Mouse and cockroach allergens in the dust and air in northeastern United States inner-city public high schools

Abstract

Considering that high school students spend a large proportion of their waking hours in the school environment, this could be an important location for exposure to indoor allergens. We have investigated the levels of mouse and cockroach allergens in the settled dust and air from 11 schools in a major northeastern US city. Settled dust samples were vacuumed from 87 classrooms, three times throughout the school year. Two separate air samples (flow = 2.5 lpm) were collected by 53 students over a 5-day period from both their school and their home. Mouse allergen (MUP) in the dust varied greatly between schools with geometric means ranging from 0.21 to 133 μg/g. Mouse allergen was detectable in 81% of the samples collected. Cockroach allergen (Bla g 2) ranged from below limit of detection (<0.003 μg/g) to 1.1 μg/g. Cockroach allergen was detected (>0.003 μg/g) in 71% of the dust samples. Bla g 2 was detected in 22% of airborne samples from the schools. By comparison, mouse allergen was only detected in 5%. These results indicate that the school may be an important location for exposure to allergens from mice and cockroaches and is an indoor environment that should be considered in an overall allergen intervention strategy.