Allergic Rhinitis: Mold Spores and Dust Mites

As if pollens aren't enough, there are fungal spores, commonly known as mold spores, floating around in the air you breathe. Spores differ from pollen in how they reproduce, but they are spread the same way. As the season becomes warmer (summer to early fall), mold spores hit the air currents. Some mold spores prefer to ride the dry winds, while others need high humidity and condensation to get off the ground. Thankfully, only a few dozen out of the hundreds of molds trigger allergic reactions. Those that do, however, do it well, infiltrating the nose and lungs and triggering hay fever and asthma  flare-ups.

Shedding Skin
An average human sheds up to 1.5 grams of skin particles each day. In just one gram of dust, there can be upward of 1,000 mites. 

(Don't) Shake It Up

Mold spores love moisture and often grow on the ground or on decaying vegetation, so victims usually inhale them while "stirring things up" during activities such as mowing the lawn, raking leaves, and cleaning the basement. When you stir things up, molds become airborne. But molds (and pollens) can also enter your life through an open window, carried in with the breeze, which you then breathe.

Indoors, mold will set up housekeeping if you have the ideal environment for them to thrive and reproduce. Prime mold real estate includes dirty laundry hampers, old newspaper piles, carpeting, fireplace logs, houseplant soil, foam rubber mattresses and pillows, bathtubs, bathrooms, and dark, damp basements. Water leaks from pipes or windows speed the development of mold, especially if the water gets on carpeting. Humidifiers and vaporizers are also a major source of indoor mold. Need we mention that mold spores love traveling, too? Air-conditioning vents (home and car, alike) have the best seating.

If you are highly allergic to mold spores but not to pollens, moving to a drier, high-altitude area may help ease your allergies.

House Dust Mites: Tiny Terrors

House dust mites are members of the arachnid family, eight-legged creatures that include spiders. These microscopic insects are harmless, but their droppings contain proteins to which many people are highly allergic. In fact, about 80 percent of children with asthma are sensitive to dust mites, as is about 10 percent of the population as a whole.

A Cause of Asthma
Dust-mite droppings are considered by many allergists to be the single most important allergen associated with asthma, as they can cause asthma in young children as well as trigger asthma attacks. 

Dust mites love to feast on protein products such as human and animal skin flakes (dead flakes, fortunately). Luckily, the human eye can't see this mite-ty picnic, unless it's held underneath a microscope. Huge gatherings (a typical used mattress may have anywhere from 100,000 to 10 million mites inside) will dine all day and night in bedding, carpeting, and furniture, especially when such hangouts are toasty warm and frequented by humans. Dust mites don't need drinks to wash down their feast. They absorb moisture from the humid air through special glands.

These ugly creatures don't fly, but their fecal pellets can become airborne, and that's the problem for the allergy prone. When you ruffle your blankets, fluff your pillow, sit on the couch, or walk across your carpet, millions of microscopic fecal pellets are propelled into the air and onto the mucous membranes of the nose, eyes, and airway linings. Voila: an allergic reaction! And it doesn't help to hold your breath. Mite poop remains airborne for 20 to 30 minutes before settling.

Dust mites are everywhere in the United States except the desert and locations higher than 5,500 feet. They thrive at room temperature with humidity higher than 50 percent. In North America, the Gulf Coast region, especially sunny, humid Florida, and the mild and damp Pacific Northwest are favorite spots. Around the world, dust mites flourish in northern Europe, Venezuela, Brazil, parts of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

In the next section, we will conclude our look at allergic rhinitis with an overview of how cockroaches and pets can trigger allergic symptoms.

Terms on a Doctor's Report
If you are an allergy sufferer, any or many of these conditions may appear on your doctor's chart.

Conjunctivitis: Itchy, watery, red, or swollen eyes caused by airborne allergens settling on the eye.

Contact dermatitis: A type of rash caused by skin contact with an irritant or substance you may be allergic to; poison ivy, for example.

Nonallergic rhinitis: Nasal symptoms caused by nonallergic inflammation or anatomic problems with the nasal passages. Symptoms may be similar to those caused by allergies.

Perennial allergic rhinitis: Year-round rhinitis caused by molds, animal dander, dust mites, etc. Symptoms are similar to hay fever but can be ongoing and persistent.

Pruritus: Itching.

Rhinitis: The term for the symptoms produced by an irritated nose and nasal passages.

Rhinorrhea: Runny nose.

Seasonal allergic rhinitis (hay fever): This type of allergic rhinitis usually occurs from early spring to fall when tree, grass, and weed pollens are at their prime.

Sinusitis: An inflammation or infection of any of the sinus cavities. Acute infections have a host of symptoms, while chronic infections have very few.

Urticaria: Hives.

This information is solely for informational purposes. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE. Neither the Editors of Consumer Guide (R), Publications International, Ltd., the author nor publisher take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading or following the information contained in this information. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Before undertaking any course of treatment, the reader must seek the advice of their physician or other health care provider.