For people allergic to cats and house dust, getting away from it all is not easy. Even traveling to a dust-averse and totally cat-free environment--Antarctica, say--may not do the trick.

That's because both house dust mite and cat allergens--allergy- causing particles--can migrate by "passive transfer" to places as remote as the Antarctic, according to a new study. Most likely, the allergens travel to Antarctica on human clothing, said a team of researchers from New Zealand.

Researchers measured for house dust mite and cat allergens at Scott Base, the permanent New Zealand settlement on Ross Island at the edge of Antarctica. They vacuumed three living room areas and 12 mattresses, and took samples from the sweaters of 11 people assigned to the base, seven of whom kept cats in their homes in New Zealand. The samples were analyzed for the major house dust mite and cat allergens.