Hope for Dust Mite Allergy Sufferers

Swiss biotechnology company Cytos has developed a vaccine for dust mite allergy sufferers.Dust mites found in 'every home' eat flakes of skin, in addition to other things. They live in bedding, upholstered furniture and even stuffed toys. Allergies are reactions to the feces and body parts left by these insects. These reactions can even lead to asthma.

Cytos has claimed that their vaccine has been tested on 20 volunteers and has demonstrated reduction in the dust mite-induced allergic reactions by 100-fold. In addition symptoms have seen a decrease of one-third and asthma attacks, eliminated.

The vaccine uses an empty virus filled with DNA and attached to a protein from the dust mite excrement in order to trigger a response from the immune system.

This boosts the activity of the immune system, which tries to suppress that allergic reaction. According to Cytos the benefits were found to persist even eight months after the inoculations.

The company also plans to develop vaccines for other common allergies such as hay fever.