Background: Previous reviews on historical aspects of house dust mite allergy do not mention ancient authors. Furthermore, the German speaking literature from the first half of the 20th century is underrepresented. Methods: Therefore, we investigated ancient greek and roman literature as well as german literature from the period 1900 until 1950. Also, reviews listed in Medline were considered. Results: In ancient times, Hippokrates, Galen, Celsus and Pliny the Older mentioned untoward effects of dust on the skin and on the mucous membranes. In the german speaking literature from the first half of the 20th century, there was a discussion whether dust allergens could be a relevant provocation factor of atopic dermatitis. However, the interest into this topic diminished in the following years. But in the 1960s, with the discovery of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus as major allergenic house dust mite, researchers began again to investigate the indoor environment as triggering factor of asthma. With respect to atopic dermatitis, the first description of the atopy patch test in 1982 renewed the interest in dust mites as pathogenetically relevant factor for the skin manifestation of atopy. Conclusion: Dust is known for hundreds of years as provocation factor of skin and respiratory disease. However, the interest into this topic varied with time.