Detection of fowl mites inside two hospital rooms.

Many mites were found on bookshelves near the windows in 2 rooms of the Department of Pediatrics on the 4th floor in the Tokai University Hospital. Fortunately, nobody reported being bitten by, or experiencing itching due to, the mites. The arthropods were tentatively identified as adults of the northern fowl mite, Ornithonyssus sylviarum (Canestrini et Frazago, 1877), commonly called "Torisashi-dani" in Japanese. It appears the mites came from an empty wagtail nest which was outside the windows. Since migrating birds like the wagtail may carry O. sylviarum and other pests and pathogens, and their possible transfer to domestic birds, more attention should be paid to the danger posed by bird mites.