Acta Parasitologica, Vol. 52, No. 1, 2007, 70-73. DOI: 10.2478/s11686-007-0002-7 Ihsan H. Ciftci (1), Umit Dundar (2)*, Zafer Cetinkaya (1), Mustafa Kulac (3), Nilay Kiyildi (1), Aycan Turel (2), Deniz Evcik (2) and Vural Kavuncu (2) - Demodex folliculorum in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
(1) Department of Microbiology and Clinical Microbiology, (2) Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,
(3) Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey
*Corresponding author: umitftr@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was to investigate the incidence and density of Demodex folliculorum in the patients with rheumatoid
arthritis (RA). Forty-one patients with RA and twenty-seven age and sex matched healthy controls were enrolled in this
study. Disease Activity Score (DAS 28) was used for the assessment of disease activity. Out of 41 patients, 33 were females
and 8 males. The mean disease duration was 10.9 ± 8.2 years. The mean DAS 28 was 3.8 ± 1.2. No statistically significant differences
in the incidence and density of Demodex mites were found between patients with RA and controls. Although immunosuppression
is thought to be a risk factor for the D. folliculorum infestation no such correlations could be found in the 41
immunosuppressed patients with RA, therefore, further studies with larger groups are needed.
KEY WORDS: Rheumatoid arthritis, Demodex folliculorum, immunosuppression