A faunistic survey of house dust mites of Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Abstract

House dust mites play an important role in causing various allergic disorders. Many factors like temperature, humidity as well as different microclimatic conditions may influence mite growth. The aim of this study was to analyse the mite fauna of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. House dust was collected from 20 selected houses located in and around Kolkata from January 2017 to December 2017. House dust samples were processed following the flotation technique and house dust mites were isolated from all the samples surveyed. A total of 51 species belonging to 34 genera and 17 families were isolated from positive samples. Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Blomia tropicalis and Cheyletus malaccensis were present in all positive samples. Most abundant mite in house dust was Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, constitute 47% of the mites collected from dust samples. Amblyseius longispinosus was first time reported from Indian house dust.

Keywords

• Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus
• D. farinae
• Blomia tropicalis
• Glycycometus geniculatus
• Acari

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