Dust Allergy: Cause & Concern

This book discusses the Indian scenario concerning dust allergy, presenting case studies that reveal the practical aspects of allergies. A gradual increase in the incidence and prevalence of different allergic manifestations has been reported from various parts of the world including several developing countries like India, where the problem has recently surfaced due to the unplanned urbanization, rapid industrialization, metamorphic changes in the environment, and increased air pollution, as well as changes in life style, particularly the adoption of Western life styles and eating habits in the name of so-called modern living. The book is divided into the following chapters: Allergy – what is it?, Allergy – Fact File; Possible allergens in our surroundings; Mechanism of allergic reaction; House dust allergy – an environmental enigma ; The mighty mites; Dermatophagoides – the potent indoor allergen ; Dust mite allergy – evaluation procedure; House dust allergy – an Indian perspective ; House dust allergy in Kolkata – a case study; Allergy & heredity; Allergic manifestations; Diagnostic procedures; and Treatment & prevention.

Prof. Goutam Kumar Saha has been working in the field of Allergy and Applied Immunology, particularly with regard to the entomological, immunological and clinical aspects of house dust mite related allergic problems, at different institutes of repute like the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Ramkrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan, B.R. Singh Hospital, Department of Zoology, University of Burdwan and University of Calcutta, Zoological Survey of India etc., for the last thirty years. He has been awarded junior and senior research fellowships by the Dept. of Science and Technology, Govt. of India and received his PhD degree from the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine and the University of Burdwan in the year 1991 on House dust mite allergy problem. Later on, he was awarded a CSIR senior research fellowship with individual project and worked at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and Dept. of Zoology, University of Burdwan. To date he has published 58 research papers on allergy and immunology in different journals of national and international repute, as well as 9 technical monographs/books. He has attended 42 national and 14 international seminars in India and abroad, including the last three World Allergy Congresses in Vancouver, Munich and Bangkok. One of his papers published in Annals of Allergy, USA (Vol. 64, pp. 155-157, 1990) was ranked as an outstanding paper in the field of Allergy and Applied Immunology by the Editors of Clinical Digest Series, Northbrook, USA and incorporated in Allergy Digest (6: 7-8: 1990) and Focus on Allergy (1: 17-18: 1991). He delivered an invited lecture on ‘Dust mite allergy’ at the Symposium of XIX International Congress of Entomology, Beijing, China, in 1992. He has received numerous Travel Awards and been sponsored by the DST, Govt. of India, UGC, INSA-COSIST, CSIR and Dept. of Higher Education, Govt. of West Bengal. He has successfully carried out 14 research and development projects funded by the UGC, CSIR, DST (Govt. of India), MoEF (Govt. of India), DST (Govt. of W.B.), Dept. of Forest (Govt. of W.B.) and World Pheasants Association and supervised 25 PhD candidates. In recognition of his contributions, he was named an Honorary Fellow of the Indian College of Allergy and Applied Immunology and the Zoological Society of Kolkata. He has also been recognised as an expert on dust mites by the Zoological Survey of India. His works have been cited in several international reference collections like Allergy Digest, Focus on Allergy, Current Trends in Otolaryngology, Int. Arch. of Allergy, and the IUCN Action Plan.