Researchers hope that by exposing babies to dust mites, a common allergen often found in pillows, mattresses and on carpets, when their immune systems are developing will prevent them becoming allergic as they grow older.
A total of 120 babies aged five to nine-months-old with a family history of allergy will take part in the study, which is being conducted by researchers at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and the David Hide Asthma and Allergy Research Centre at St Mary’s Hospital on the Isle of Wight.
According to the David Hide centre, as many as one in four people in the UK are affected by an allergy at some point in their lives, with children accounting for half of all those affected.
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