Bonnigheim (ri) In the summer of last year, 20 people who suffer from an allergy to house dust were provided with a new anti-dust mite mattress free of charge by the Hohenstein Institute in Bonnigheim and the bed manufacturer Gailing in Ludwigsburg Mitte. On several occasions during the 18-month field trial, the team led by Prof. Dirk Hofer will examine the level of contamination by allergenic dust mite excrement in the mattress, in order to establish whether its special design is effective in real-life conditions.

At least twice a week, ten of the volunteer sleepers will heat up their Wellmed mattress to 55°C. Built into the core of the mattress are flexible textile heating elements, which enable a combination of heat and low humidity to be produced to create a hostile environment for the dust mites. Initial comparisons of the level of allergenic contamination show real improvements compared with the control group. The latter were given a structurally similar mattress but one which did not have the special transformer required for heating it up.

Even by the first interim examination after six months, there were clear differences between the test group and the control group: in the unheated mattresses used by some of the volunteers, the level of contamination with allergenic dust mite excrement had already reached the sensitisation threshold at which symptoms could generally be expected to appear. In the Wellmed mattresses that had been regularly heated up, on the other hand, only minimal traces of dust mite excrement were found - proof that the creatures had not yet been able to establish themselves there. The results of the investigations by the scientists were confirmed by the initial subjective evaluations by the volunteers, who, unlike the control group, were able to enjoy a long-lasting improvement in their condition.

Nevertheless, Prof. Höfer sets a very high standard for claiming the long-term therapeutic success that is needed for the Wellmed mattress to be recognised as a medical device by leading hospital organisations: "We need to show that, over the mattress's lifespan of ten years, so little dust mite excrement is produced that the sensitisation threshold for sufferers is never reached." That is why, in order to be able to make a reliable prediction, over the next 12 months the Hohenstein scientists will examine the contamination of the mattresses by protein compounds at least twice more, using a complex analytical procedure. It is these compounds that make every night a torture for about 5 million people in Germany alone.

This is because, whereas duvets, pillows and blankets can if necessary be washed at high temperatures in the washing machine, the dust mite population inside the mattress and its allergenic excretions could hitherto only be effectively held in check by using tightly sealed and therefore not very breathable mattress covers or else chemical substances. Neither solution is conducive to a relaxing night's sleep.

To prevent this being further disturbed by electrosmog from the innovative anti-dust mite mattress, a special power adaptor made by Rist Transformatorenbau GmbH in Ostfildern is used. Unlike standard electric blankets, for example, the textile elements made by the roma-Strickstoff-Fabrik Rolf Mayer plant in Balingen are supplied with low-voltage current. This means there is neither any risk of an electric shock nor any build-up of a troublesome electric field.

So the Wellmed mattress is perfectly designed to give you a healthy night's sleep - and the innovation could also be the solution for another "pest problem". Prof. Hofer believes that bed bugs, which are on the loose in countless bedrooms, especially in the USA, would also be unable to survive in this mattress: "The combination of heat and the resulting low humidity would also keep these creepy-crawlies reliably in check."