December 12th, 2017
From July 1998 toAugust 1999, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences conducted the first National Survey of Lead andAllergens in Housing. The purpose of the survey was to assess children’s potential household exposure to lead, allergens, and bacterial endotoxins. We surveyed a sample of 831 homes, representing 96 million permanently occupied, noninstitutional housing units that permit resident children. We administered questionnaires to household members, made home observations, and took environmental samples. This article provides general background information on the survey, an overview of the survey design, and a description of the data collection and laboratory methods pertaining to the allergen and endotoxin components. We collected dust samples from a bed, the bedroom floor, a sofa or chair, the living room floor, the kitchen floor, and a basement floor and analyzed them for cockroach allergen Bla g 1, the dust mite allergens Der f 1 and Der p 1, the cat allergen Fel d 1, the dog allergen Can f 1, the rodent allergens Rat n 1 and mouse urinary protein, allergens of the fungusAlternaria alternata, and endotoxin. This article provides the essential context for subsequent reports that will describe the prevalence of allergens and endotoxin in U.S. households, their distribution by various housing characteristics, and their associations with allergic diseases such as asthma and rhinitis. Key words: asthma, data collection, house dust mite, indoor allergens. Environ Health Perspect 110:527–532 (2002). [Online 3April 2002] Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2002/110p527-532vojta/abstract.html