Acarological Characteristics of Dust Originating from Urban and Rural Houses in Northwestern Poland

The aim of this study was to determine the species composition of allergenic mites found in West Pomerania in northwestern Poland. Mites were found in approximately 30% of urban and 53% of rural samples. In both groups, the following mites were found: Dermatophagoides farinae (Hughes), D. pteronyssinus (Trouessart), Chortoglyphus arcuatus (Troupeau), Cheyletus sp., and Hirstia sp. In addition to these taxa, Euroglyphus maynei (Cooreman) was found only in urban apartments, and the species Gohieria fusca (Oudemans) and Lepidoglyphus destructor (Schrank) were found only in rural apartments. Among the identified taxa in the two groups of apartments, the most frequent and numerous were: D. farinae, D. pteronyssinus, C. arcuatus, and Cheyletus sp. The dominant species was D. farinae (dominances were 68.4% and 57.1%, respectively for urban and rural areas). The average number of D. farinae was higher in rural than in urban apartments.