Rodents as source of allergens

The role of rodents as a possible source of allergens should not be underestimated, especially because this group of mammals comprises a great number of subspecies, people may come into contact with both at work and in the home environment. The causative allergens can be found in the fur, saliva, urine and epithelia. Few, and in part, contradictory data on the sensitization with rodent allergens prompted us to perform our own clinical and laboratory tests for guinea-pig allergy. 9% of our patients with suspected inhalation allergy proved to be sensitive to guinea-pig allergens, with 6% showing an established allergy; the proportion of patients who developed an asthma bronchiale being distinctly higher than that with other allergies. It was possible to isolate and characterize 2 main allergens (Cav p 1 and Cav p 2) which both belong to the group of lipocalines. In this way, the basis was created for an allergen standardization and further investigations of dusts regarding the presence of guinea-pig allergens.