Indoor Air Quality for Allergy Prevention

Chu, Sanghyo; Song, Jaechul

Abstract

We are all becoming increasingly aware of allergies and the problems that they represent in the daily lives of many people. The heightened pubic interest and awareness is in the context of a significant increase over the last decade in number of individuals who suffer from allergic problems such as anaphylactic reaction, asthma, hay fever, and eczema. The underlying basis for the rise in the number of allergy suffers has been the focus of considerable research. Much of this attention has concentrated on the quality of the outdoor air we breath, especially as the roads have become more and more congested with traffic generating exhausted pollutants. But researches have identified that sources of air pollution outside the home cannot account for the increasing prevalence of allergy, and so other reasons have to be invested. Many researches have discovered that increasing tendency of allergic problems is linked to the allergens commonly found within the indoor environment, such as those related to house dust, chemicals, mites, cockroaches, domestic and pets and also affected by the physical environments like temperature humidity, and ventilation level. Therefore, researcher's interest is now much more focused on the indoor environment and those factors that influence the level of indoor allergens, as well as the presence of pollutants in buildings. The authors reviewed some measures to control the indoor air quality to prevent allergic diseases.