House dust mite and house dust allergy.

Skin testing and the radioallergosorbent test (RAST) with extracts of house dust and mite (D. farinae) were performed on 100 patients. Correlation between positive prick tests with the two antigens was low, many more reactions being obtained with the house dust antigen in patients clinically positive to house dust. Also, for both antigens, the degree of reactivity was higher with the prick test than with RAST. It is concluded that, in this geographic area, house dust extract is more suitable than mite extract for skin testing and, by inference, for hyposensitization therapy of house dust-sensitive patients.