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Allergen:
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Acarus siro; food mite |
Family name:
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Acarid mites |
Scientific name:
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Acarus siro L. |
Family name latin:
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Acaridae |
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| Description: |
These food mites are tiny, eight-legged arachnids from 0.3 to 0.7 mm in size. Using just the eyes and with good lighting conditions, they can just barely be seen. Using strong magnification, one can recognize on the back a body an incision between the second and third pair of legs. The males possess tarsal and anal suckers, the females a claw at the end of each foot. Furthermore, the males possess a clearly expressed hook-like extension at the thigh of the first leg pair. Both sexes possess four long dragged hairs on the back end. The body color is shining white; the mandibles and the legs, depending upon their nourishment, are colored yellow to brown. The mandibles together with their feelers resemble tongs or tweezers.
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| Occurence: |
Probably universal; thousands of mites can reside in one gram animal feed; is also suspected of being a food allergen in flour.
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| Related species: |
The genus Acarus comprises the morphological and biological very similar species farris Oudemans, immobilis Griffiths and gracilis Hughes.
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| Allergy trigger: |
Probably proteins in the excrement;
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| Invasions path: |
Inhalation; the dried excrement eventually with time becomes dust and is raised into the air when the supplies are handled. Nutritive; in flours
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| Synonyms: |
Acarus siro var. farinae L., Aleurobius farinae var. africana Oudemans; flour mite;
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| Biology: |
This food mite can often be found where plant and sometimes animal feed are ground and stored at a humidity level that is too high. Fungi that grow in the feed are also consumed by the mites; demonstrated for alternaria, streptomyces and penicillium species. Only in the exceptional case have they been detected in house dust. They are not a sign of inadequate hygiene or cleanliness. They do not carry any diseases and do not infest any form of life directly. Often their presence are only noticed when individuals who come in contact with these materials start to react allergically. These food mites do not tend to avoid the light and develop at a relative air humidity of 65 - 100% and a temperature of approx. 20 - 30°C. The life cycle of the mite begins with the laying of eggs, which are quite large compared with the size of the adult. After about a week, six-legged larvae, called nymphs, hatch. After about another week, it sheds its skin to become a so-called protonymph, which a few days later in its turn develops into a tritonymph. This form sheds its skin to become the eight-legged, adult sexual animal which can survive for a number of weeks. During this time, the females can lay between one and four eggs daily.
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| Allergology: |
The reproduction time and quantity mainly depend on the conditions that prevail for the storage of the supplies. Diverse studies point to a certain cross-reactivity to the Dermatophagoides species; common major allergens, though, do not exist. It seems that with the other mite species there is very little to no cross-reactivity. Particularly threatened are all individuals who work in agriculture, animal husbandry and animal feed manufacture.
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| Remedial measures: |
Apart from the possibility of conducting specific immune therapy (hyposensibilization) with house dust mite allergens, the environment of the patient should be made as clean as possible of food mites and their excrements. The required measures must begin with the storage conditions of the potentially infection endangered supplies. 1. Store supplies tightly shut. 2. If possible, store supplies at low temperature. 3. Store supplies as dry as possible; the relative humidity should be a maximum of 40% . 4. Furthermore, it is recommended to take those actions that are recommended for house dust mites.
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| Clinical relevance: |
heavy
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| Cross reactivities: |
Occurrence possible- Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus; house dust mite
- Dermatophagoides farinae; house dust mite
- Glycyphagus domesticus, food mite
- Lepidoglyphus destructor; food mite
- Tyrophagus putrescentiae; food mite
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