[An open advisory telephone for allergy and indoor climate problems. A sensible use of expertise?]

An open telephone service for hypersensitivity diseases and indoor environment has been available for professional and lay people five hours a week. Two years experience comprising 1,074 calls and a total of 2,147 questions are described. Almost 15% of the questions were asked because the caller had not received sufficient information when consulting the local health services about defined health problems. Many questions were concerned with primary or secondary prophylactic measures or both. Some calls could have been answered by local health or building services, if these had been available. However, the majority of questions demanded advanced and expert knowledge of the matter. The service has not been systematically evaluated, but feedback from users indicates that this manner of using expertise is very much appreciated by the public. It probably has an important prophylactic effect.