FOR some people sneezing 365 days a year is just part of life.

Now a research team based at the University of Worcester is working hard to help them stop.

It is the tiny dust mites that live in all our homes, especially in our beds, that can cause allergic reactions, including asthma and persistent rhinitis, which leaves some people sneezing all year round.

The National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit, based at the university, wants sufferers to step forward as volunteers and take part in a research project that could help them control their symptoms.

The team is looking into a rhinitis remedy that has no known side effects and can be taken by anyone, including pregnant women and children. Professor Jean Emberlin, director of the unit, and Professor Richard Lewis, of the Worcestershire Royal Hospital, are trying to find out if Nasaleze, an inert cellulose powder, which is used as a remedy for hayfever, is effective in controlling persistent rhinitis, when people are not taking other medication.

Nasaleze has been on sale without prescription in the UK since 1994, but controlled trials are needed to test how effective it is.

The research team is involved with a variety of high profile projects nationally and internationally. It supplies the national pollen forecast for both the Met Office and national media and its latest research has involved securing a £180,000 European Union grant to develop new and more effective methods of sampling airborne allergies.

Over the past 10 years, its research has focused on tackling an array of allergy problems, from potentially life threatening pollen and spore allergies, trials into new bedding to prevent dust mite allergies, through to research on how thunderstorms can trigger asthma attacks.

Volunteers for the Nasaleze project must be over 18 years old. For details call 01905 855200 or e-mail pollen@worc. ac.uk for an information pack.