Controlling dust mites psychrometrically - a review for building scientists and engineers.

The literature for the control of dust mites by modification of the psychrometric conditions of the environment is reviewed from the standpoint of a building scientist or engineer, both to present to building science workers an envelope of microenvironment psychrometric conditions to use as control, and to highlight those areas of dust mite biology that require further research to complete the knowledge of the psychrometric envelope for dust mite viability. Some important data to allow tight specification of psychrometric control conditions are missing, viz.: the temperature dependence of critical equilibrium activity for Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus and Euroglyphus maynei; behavior of dust mite populations under a fluctuating climate; and the difference between wild and laboratory populations. The widely quoted figure for dust mite control of 7 g / mg absolute humidity should be used with caution.