All clothing and bed linen must be washed every 2 to 4 weeks at temperatures of 60 degrees or more. Humidifyers should be discouraged and ionisers have been shown to be of no benefit. Clothing should be kept in a cupboard and dust trapping clothes such as blazers should be dry cleaned whenever possible. No one in the home should smoke as cigarette smoking has been shown to promote allergic symptoms in sensitive people. These agents must be used regularly.
Dead mites are more easily vacuumed up, so thorough post treatment vacuum cleaning is essential.
Conventional insect sprays are of no benefit and may aggravate allergic symptoms. The medical treatment of housedust mite allergy in asthma, nasal allergy and eczema will be dealt with elsewhere. This involves injections of a housedust mite extract initially at weekly intervals, followed by 6 weekly injections for 3 to 5 years.