Analysis of dust samples from the clinical environment of children with eczemas.

Dust samples were collected and analyzed from the environment of eczematic children both in their homes and the hospital. Samples of house dust (33) contained 16 mite species and a total of 396 mite specimens. Of these, 315 specimens were members of the family Pyroglyphidae.

Mites from the city pavement.

The authors obtained a total of 136 mite specimens from dust samples collected from the pavement of Prague in monthly intervals for a period of one year. Of utmost importance was the finding of Dermatophagoides farinae Hughes, 1961 and Euroglyphus maynei (Cooreman, 1950), both of the family Pyroglyphidae, allergogenic mites. Apart from a few exceptions, all other species were common mites of food stores.

Laboratory diagnosis of scabies.

All the above listed reasons as well as the experience we have obtained with this method, justify our recommendation of the introduction of the laboratory diagnosis of scabies through the method of lye scraping of the skin into routine practice. A single parasite element is enough for determining the diagnosis while, for the above mentioned reasons, a negative microscope finding does not exclude the parasitic etiology of the given disease. We therefore recommend in the diagnosis of scabies that the following criteria are parallely used: 1.

Allergogenous mites (Acari: Pyroglyphidae) in private recreation houses.

The bed fauna of periodically inhabited dwellings markedly differs from the bed fauna in town apartments, both in quantity--a higher number of mites and quality--an important dominance of the species Euroglyphus maynei which makes up 70.4% of mites in country cottages, but only 28% in town apratments used by the owners of such recreation houses. In other apartments it is very rare.

Pyemotes herfsi (Oudemans, 1936) as causative agent of another mass dermatitis in Europe (Acari, Pyemotidae).

The authors describe new cases of human dermatitis caused by Pyemotes herfsi occurring in the food mixing shed for the farrowing house in the piggery at a farm in the destrict of Olomouc, where seven persons handling feedstuff were infected. The disease became manifest as a papular rash, appearing particularly on the back, and all over the body except on the hands and face. When the afflicted person discontinued work in the feed mixing shed, the rash disappeared quickly.

Investigations on the fauna of beds in flats, children's sanatoria and old-age homes.

An analysis was carried of the fauna found in 338 beds from two old-age homes and from flats inhabited by asthmatic children. During hospitalization of these children the fauna in the flats was compared with that found in beds used by them in sanatoria. The most abundant species proved to be Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus that is also widely spread in other countries of Europe.

Application of Bathurin and borax in the biological control of Monomorium pharaonis in housing estates.

Of two apartment houses infested with ants of the species Monomorium pharaonis, one was treated with a biological, the other with a chemical substance. In the first case we used Bathurin in combination with borax at a concentration of 1.3% for both substances.

Are the mites of the genus Tarsonemus really parasites of man?

Mites of the genus Tarsonemus were found in several preparations of human skin samples. It was revealed that the mites got into the preparations from insufficiently cleaned coverslips. Similar previous reports are discussed on this occasion.