Exposure to mite and cat allergens on a range of clothing items at home and the transfer of cat allergen in the workplace
Open accessAbstract
Background Clothing has been proposed as an additional source of exposure to mite and cat allergens. Dispersal of allergen into public places has also been attributed to clothing.Objectives We sought to study the contribution of various types of clothing on mite and cat exposure in a domestic environment. Also, we studied the ability of clothing to transfer allergen in a workplace.Methods Personal exposure to mite and cat allergen from a range of clothing was measured by using intranasal air samplers in 11 homes. Five categories of clothing were tested. Wearing no upper clothing was the sixth category tested to distinguish the contribution of clothing over ambient background exposure. An adhesive tape was used to sample allergen from the surface of clothing, and reservoir dust samples were also collected. The above techniques were also used in the workplace to examine the amount of cat allergen transferred from cat owners to non-cat owners.Results The amount of mite and cat allergen inhaled differed among the clothing types worn and whether they had been washed recently. Wearing a woolen sweater increased personal allergen exposure to cat and mite allergen by a mean of 11 and 10 times, respectively. Clothing items that were less frequently washed carried more allergen whether assessed by vacuuming or sampled with adhesive tape. This corresponded to the amount of allergen inhaled. We also found that cat levels on non-cat owners' clothing increased significantly at the end of a working day, which lead to the increase in their personal allergen exposure to cat.Conclusions These studies strongly support the emerging model that personal clothing is an important source of both mite and cat allergen exposure. This article also demonstrates the importance of clothing as a means of distributing cat allergen into cat-free environments.
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Clothing serves as a vehicle for transporting cat allergens into cat-free environments, where they subsequently settle on surfaces and become suspended in the air.
“Clothing serves as a vehicle for transporting cat allergens into cat-free environments, where they subsequently settle on surfaces and become suspended in the air [70].”
From Advance in Managing Indoor Cat Allergen Proteins: Molecular Insights, Detection, and Control (2025) · cites this paper as [70]
The conclusion (p. 879) identifies clothing as a means of transferring cat allergen into cat-free environments. The Discussion reports cat allergen in floor dust even in homes without cats, and the workplace air-sampling results (p. 877) detect airborne cat-allergen particles. The paper does not establish the claimed sequence in which allergen transported on clothing subsequently settles on surfaces and becomes airborne there. (LLM, conf=0.84)
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“Clothing serves as a vehicle for transporting cat allergens into cat-free environments, where they subsequently settle on surfaces and become suspended in the air [70].”
- Authors
- De Lucca, S. D., O’Meara, T. J., & Tovey, E. R.
- Affiliations
- The University of Sydney (AU)
- ORCID
- Tovey, Euan R.
- Venue
- Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2000-11
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 874-879
- ISSN
- 0091-6749 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2125851060
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 2.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Immunology and Allergy › Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Occupational exposure and asthma
- Keywords
- house dust mite allergens, Fel d 1, cat allergen, clothing, allergen transfer, occupational exposure, indoor air quality
- MeSH terms
- Allergens, Animals, Cats, Clothing, Dust, Housing, Humans, Mites, Workplace, Inhalation Exposure
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