Impact of occupational and inhalant allergy on rhinitis-specific quality of life in employees of bell pepper greenhouses in the Netherlands.

Background: Rhinitis symptoms among bell pepper greenhouse employees can be caused by an allergy to occupational allergens, such as bell pepper pollen and predatory mites, and common inhalant allergens.

Objectives: To estimate the effect of sensitization to these allergens on rhinitis-specific quality of life (QoL) during and outside the flowering period and to evaluate whether the QoL of sensitized employees is comparable with that of chrysanthemum greenhouse employees with rhinitis and an average population sample with perennial rhinitis.

Methods: We invited 233 employees with rhinitis symptoms to complete 2 rhinitis QoL questionnaires and to undergo skin prick testing with common inhalant allergens and occupational allergen extracts.

Immunoblot and radioallergosorbent test inhibition studies of allergenic cross-reactivity of the predatory mite Amblyseius cucumeris with the house dust mite Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus.

Background: In 1999, an extensive study among bell pepper growers showed that a predatory mite, Amblyseius cucumeris, is a potentially relevant source of occupational allergens because 23% of the population had positive skin prick test reactions.

Objective: To investigate whether cross-reactivity between A. cucumeris and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus is responsible for the cosensitization to both mite species found in 58.