Scientific research from Denmark indicates that people who suffer from allergies and asthma may have to suffer for quite some time yet, as there seem to be very little sufferers can do to combat the cause of their ailments: dust mites.
Danish researchers analyzed the results of 54 studies on dust mites involving a total of 3,000 asthma sufferers. The study discovered that no product currently on the market to combat dust mites has a significant impact on the symptoms described by patients.
Some products, such as mattress covers or special chemicals, were able to kill some dust mites but not all. In addition, most left behind allergens which aggravated asthma and caused allergic reactions in their own right.
It is estimated that 22 million people in America suffer from asthma, 6 million or more of them children. Doctors currently believe that 70 per cent of asthma patients are sensitive to dust mites which can make allergic reactions worse and can interfere with proper breathing.
Dust mites and the products that combat them, can be affected by a number of factors, from local climate to other household products.
Dr. Miles Weinberger, director of the Asthma and Allergy Centre at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, said, “Asthma is a highly complex disease. Dust mites like high humidity, which results in greater exposure and probably greater clinical importance in the U.S. Southeast and the UK than in northern climates, where central heating causes homes to be bone-dry in the winter.”