1) Many people are allergic to dust mites that are living in the
carpeting. Although dust mites usually give an asthmatic reaction,
other reactions are possible.

Just wanted to give my two cents on the statement above, dust mites don't "usually" cause an asthmatic reaction. Dust mites are an allergen and usually cause allergic-type symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose. Myself, and two of my children all are allergic to dust mites; however, my third child has asthma so for her it can cause an asthmatic type response. If dust mites were more prone to cause asthmatic responses, there would be hundreds of thousands more people with asthma -- not to say that there aren't a lot of people whom already have asthma. I just didn't want your statement mislead anyone in that dust mites normally cause asthmatic symptoms since for many people it doesn't.

As for pets, even if you aren't allergic to the dander, the dander setting around collects dust mites and they feed on it -- so you may not be allergic to the dog or cat dander -- but the dust mites it brings about will make your allergies worse.

Heidi