Cultures of house-dust mites on animal skin scales.

The main constituent of one of the most suitable media for growing house-dust mites (D. pteronyssinus) are human skin scales. In this study it is shown that skin scales of a number of other animals are also accepted as food by these mites, with evidence of allergen production. Production of house-dust mite allergen for diagnosis and treatment should not be done on non-human animal skin scales, because of their own high allergenicity.