Nutr Hosp. 2015;31(2):944-951 ISSN 0212-1611 • CODEN NUHOEQ S.V.R. 318 Original / Otros Mites and the implications on human health Patrícia Vogel¹, Simone Morelo Dal Bosco¹ and Noeli Juarez Ferla² 1Nutrition Course, Centro Universitário UNIVATES. Lajeado/RS, 2Acarology Laboratory, Museum of Natural Sciences, Centro Universitário UNIVATES. Lajeado/RS – Brazil. Abstract ÁCAROS Y LAS CONSECUENCIAS SOBRE LA SALUD HUMANA Introduction: The infestation by mites of stored pro- ducts is of great economic importance and public health, with consequences to human health. Resumen Objectives: To describe the mite species associated to Introducción: La infestación por ácaros de productos food and stored products that cause implications to hu- almacenados es de gran importancia económica y de sa- man health as well as to analyze the loss of quality and lud pública, con consecuencias para la salud humana. nutritional composition of infested food. Objetivos: Describir las especies de ácaros asociados Method: Literature review in LILACS-BIREME, a los productos alimenticios almacenados y que causan SciELO and MEDLINE databases for publications in consecuencias para la salud humana, así como para ana- English, Portuguese and Spanish with the descriptors lizar la pérdida de la calidad y la composición nutricional “mites”, “foods”, “storage mites”, “store product mites”, de los alimentos infestados. “dust mites”, “quality control”, “quality foods”, “chemi- Método: Revisión de la literatura en LILACS-BIRE- cal composition”, “chemistry”, “allergens” and “health”. ME, SciELO y MEDLINE bases de datos de las publica- There were identified 80 articles, but only 55 were rela- ciones en Inglés, portugués y español con los descriptores ted to the objectives of the study. Sixteen references were “ácaros”, “alimentos”, “ácaros de almacenamiento”, “los mentioned in the articles that were found after checked ácaros del producto de su tienda”, “los ácaros del polvo”, for relevance. Results and discussion: The activity of the “calidad control “,” alimentos de calidad “,” composición mites causes loss of sanitary quality, weight and nutri- química “,” química “,” alérgenos “y” salud “. Se iden- tional composition of the infested products, with great tificaron 80 artículos, pero sólo 55 estaban relacionados economic loss in the grain industry. Inhalation, ingestion con los objetivos del estudio. Dieciséis referencias fueron or contact of mites, byproducts of metabolism and feces mencionados en los artículos que se encontraron después may sensitize susceptible individuals and cause asthma, de verificado su relevancia. Resultados y discusión: La allergic rhinitis, contact dermatitis, enteritis and lead to actividad de los ácaros causan pérdida de calidad sanita- anaphylaxis. The monitoring of temperature and humi- ria, el peso y la composición nutricional de los productos dity is essential for the control of mites, as well as better infestados, con grandes pérdidas económicas en la indus- conservation and hygiene of the units of grain storage. tria del grano. La inhalación, ingestión o contacto de los (Nutr Hosp. 2015;31:944-951) ácaros, subproductos del metabolismo y las heces pueden sensibilizar individuos susceptibles y causar asma, rinitis DOI:10.3305/nh.2015.31.2.7772 alérgica, dermatitis de contacto, enteritis y conducir a la Key words: Mites. Store product mites. Food quality. anafilaxis. El control de la temperatura y la humedad es Chemistry. Allergens. esencial para el control de ácaros, así como una mejor conservación y la higiene de las unidades de almacena- miento de grano. (Nutr Hosp. 2015;31:944-951) DOI:10.3305/nh.2015.31.2.7772 Palabras clave: Los ácaros. Ácaros de productos tienda. Calidad de los alimentos. Química. Alérgenos. Correspondence: Simone Morelo Dal Bosco. Center of Biological Science and Health, Centro Universitário - Univates. Rua Avelino Talini, 171, Universitário – Lajeado/RS – Brasil. CEP: 95900-000 E-mail: [email protected] Recibido: 4-IX-2014. Aceptado: 9-X-2014. 944 055_7772 Mites and the implications on human health.indd 944 08/01/15 16:45 Abbreviations databases. Scientific papers published in English, Por- tuguese and Spanish between 2000 and 2014 abou- COPD - chronic obstructive pulmonary disease thouse and storage dust mites, quality and nutritional GM-CSF - colony stimulating factor granulocyte / composition of infested food and activity implications macrophage of these arthropods on human health were selected. IgE - immunoglobulin E The descriptors “mites”, “foods”, “storage mites”, IL-6 - Interleukin-6 “store product mites”, “dust mites”, “quality control”, IL-8 - Interleukin-8 “quality foods”, “chemical composition”, “chemis- MCP1 - monocyte chemotactic protein-1 try”, “allergens” and “health” were used to search the TNF -α- tumor necrosis factor databases.Eighty articles were identified, but only 55 were related to the study objectives. The first analysis of the articles was conducted by the summary and later Introduction by the text. Besides these, 16references mentioned in the articles that have been found were included due to The prevalence of allergic diseases such as asth- their relevance for the study. ma, rhinitis, contact dermatitis and food allergies has increased substantially in recent decades and can be considered a serious public health problem1,2. It is es- Results and discussion timated that 10-20% of the world population has asth- ma, allergic rhinitis or contact dermatitis3,4,5 and about Evolutionary Theory 6-8% of children under 3 years old and 2-3% of the general population have some type of food allergy6. Most mites of stored products known currently In this context, house dust mites and of storage pro- belong to the suborder Astigmata, but little is known ducts are an important source of allergens that can sen- about the evolutionary origin of these mites. It is sitize predisposed individuals and may or may not be known that the human being began to stockpile food mediated by immunoglobulin E (IgE)3,4,5,7. The food with the advent of agriculture around 10 thousand allergy is defined as an adverse health effect resulting years ago, time enough to allow the evolution of a lar- from an immunological response to exposure to a parti- ge complex of genres and species in association with cular food, usually manifested by the production of IgE8. humankind, suggesting that the origin of storage mites The house dust mites feed basically of dead hu- was independent for each species and occurred in their man tissue, animal dander, fungi, bacteria and po- natural habitat17. llen of plants9. The mites of stored products are more There are speculations that the Astigmata mites common in rural areas and are found predominantly were fungivorous and that adaptations on thehypo- in grains such as wheat, corn, oats, barley and their pusstageoccurredso that the colonization of other byproducts10,11, animal food, hay, straw and in the dust habitats waspossible17. Knülle tried to reproduce in from the processing facilities and grain storage12,13. laboratory the conditions that allowed these adapta- Sensitization to house dust mites and mites of stored tions and showed that mites isolated in natural en- products occurs through inhalation, ingestion or con- vironment have a greater genetic heterogeneity to tact with live or dead mites, byproducts of metabolism induce a hypopus stage than the lineages developed or feces14. in laboratory in continuous environmental conditions. In food, the mite infestation causes loss of quality of In particular, for Lepidoglyphus destructor (Schrank), stored products because the mites feed basically of the a storage mite, the phenotypic expression of hypopus germ of the grain11. They also cause losses on nutritio- stage was determined by the combination of genetic nal composition15 and on the stock of seed decreasing risk with diet quality, i.e., the interaction between the germinative power of the grain14. In humans, they genotype and environment ensures a continuous and cause respiratory diseases such as asthma and rhini- uninterrupted development of the specie, in favora- tis9,11and contact dermatitis9,14. Mites storage can also ble environmental conditions for some individuals, cause acute enteritis by ingestion of bacteria and fungi providing the survival and the dispersion to other ha- which they are vectors16. bitats when it deteriorates.The variations in hypopus This study aims to discuss the quality and nutritio- characteristics in the population of this species pro- nal composition of food infested by mites and descri- bably constitute a selective adaptation to such condi- bes the implications of the activity of these arthropods tions of life, the evolutionary ecology18. Later, a study on human health. of Corente and Knülle demonstrated with experimen- tal results that the decrease in quality of food increa- sed the mortality of mites and induced the hypopus Method stage. The study suggests that it is not the presence of a particular substance that induces thehypopus stage, This work is a literature review. There were sear- but the lack of a proper nutritional balance whatever ched the LILACS-BIREME, SCIELOand MEDLINE the nature19. Mites and the implications on human Nutr Hosp. 2015;31(2):944-951 945 health 055_7772 Mites and the implications on human health.indd 945 08/01/15 16:45 Regarding to the domestic dust mites, Klimov and A study of Morales and collaborators demonstrates OConnor, in a study using phylogenetic analyzes tests, that the proteases are involved in the