[Antigenic analysis of cheese mites with view to a study of cheese-makers' illness (author's transl)]

"Somatic" and "metabolic" antigens prepared from A. farinae and T. casei mites in Auvergne cheese were used for experimental immunisation: the hyper-immune serums obtained permitted 11 to 21 precipitant systems to be distinguished. An enzymatic activity could be identified on certain arcs. Research into antigenic communities showed the existence of 1 to 3 arcs common to the mite antigens, but none with the antigens obtained from the Penicillium cyclopium and Mucor fuscus moulds accompanying the mites. The results obtained thus facilitate an epidemiological investigation among the cheesemakers.