High rates of asthma in children of lower socioeconomic circumstances is thought to be related to the presence of allergens and antigens of the German Cockroach Blatetella germanica, which often infests public housing developments. LST prepared freeze-dried extracts of cockroach debris and pool of antiserum to serve as references in an ELISA system. The ELISA assay successfully correlated extracts of swabs taken in a defined surface area where a given number of cockroaches were allowed for specific time intervals. Based on the demonstration of a working immunologically based detection system, researchers at Johns Hopkins requested reagents and methods to compare monoclonal allergen analysis with this polyclonal antigen system. This work is continuing with Dr. Robert Hamilton, who has expressed interest in using the CBER test method. Materials have been supplied to USDA and JHU to compare results. Interest in these studies from environmental groups has increased, to explore the efficacy of physical removal methods such as cleaning or biological interventions.
