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Mouse allergen exposure decreased allergic rhinitis risk in children

School-aged children exposed to mouse allergen had a decreased risk for allergic rhinitis, according to recent study results.

Researchers studied 511 children aged 6 to 14 years from March 2009 to June 2010 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to examine the relationship between mouse allergen level in house dust and allergic rhinitis (AR). Participants, who were randomly selected from households, completed a protocol that included questionnaires, allergy skin testing and dust samples. Current rhinitis symptoms and skin test reactivity to at least one allergen was used to define AR.

Two hundred forty-seven children (48.3%; mean age, 10.5 years; 45.8% female) had AR, whereas 264 (51.7%; mean age, 10.2 years; 47.7% female) did not. Mouse allergen level had an association with a 25% decreased odds (95% CI, 0.62-0.92), according to multivariate analyses.

“Although endotoxin and mouse allergen levels were significantly correlated (r=0.184, P<.001), the observed inverse association between [mouse allergen] and AR was not explained by levels of endotoxin or other markers of microbial or fungal exposure (pepti-doglycan and glucan),” the researchers wrote.

“Mouse allergen level was inversely associated with AR in Puerto Rico children, independently of levels of endotoxin in house dust, and the results were driven mainly by children not sensitized to mouse,” the researchers concluded. “This finding could be explained by early-life induction of tolerance by mouse allergen or by microbes that are present in mouse feces but were not measured in this study.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosure.