If humans or animals live in your house — you have dust mites. No special test is needed to check, it is a fact. Even if you are not sensitive to dust, keep reading.
I found all of this information on the web via Environmental Health and Safety Online and The Allergy Store.
House dust mites are microscopic bugs that primarily live on dead skin cells regularly shed from humans and their pets. Dust mites are harmless to most people. They don't carry diseases, but they can cause allergic reactions in asthmatics and others who are allergic to their feces. Since the average human sloughs off 10 grams of dead skin a week, dust mites have a lot to eat in most homes. Cats and dogs create even more dander for dust mites to eat.
Since fiber-filled surfaces collect the most dust mite food, they have the highest concentrations of dust mites and their waste products. Dust mites are most at homes in mattresses (it doesn’t matter if it is a conventional or some special foam mattress), pillows, box springs, blankets, sheets, upholstered furniture, rugs, carpets, draperies, curtains, sheets, decorative fabric panels and tapestries hung on walls, pet beds, as well as the interiors of automobiles. They like it dark, warm and moist.
Ohio State University reports that a typical used mattress may contain 100,000 to 10 million mites inside. Ten percent of the weight of a two year old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings!
Gross!
So what can you do to live dust mite free?
I found this nice list we posted back in Feb 2008.
Floors:
• If possible, remove carpeting.
• If you can't remove carpeting, clean it with a good vacuum.
Cleaning:
• Clean the bedroom once a week.
• Clean floors, furniture, tops of doors, window frames and sills, etc., with a damp cloth.
• Wash curtains often at 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Keep clothing off the floor and shoes out of the room.
• Air out the room regularly.
Bed:
• Use a dust-proof or allergen-proof cover on your mattress and box springs and pillows.
• Use only washable materials on the bed.
• Wash sheets, blankets, and other bedclothes frequently at 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
Furniture:
• Keep furniture and surfaces to a minimum.
• If you can, avoid upholstered furniture in the bedroom.
Air Filters:
• Use a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate absorption) air filter.
• A dehumidifier can help some people. Make sure to clean it regularly to prevent mold growth.
Other:
• People with severe allergies should keep pets out of the bedroom.
• Dust mites thrive in warm, humid spaces. (Good news for winter, bad news for summer.)
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not a fan of that picture... ew.
It's like a herd of them coming in for milking time..
I'm feeling pretty good about my Dyson and haan steam mop right about now.
Did not need the visual.
Gross. And I love the ever-so-practical suggestion to "keep furniture and surfaces to a minimum."
Ya know, you can make similarly disgusting observations about bacteria and many other teeny tinies we live with but don't want to think about. Animals (including humans) are dirty creatures. I am not allergic, and I am not going to make myself crazy worrying about this. Moving on...
PS-- if we didn't have the dust mites to clean up our 'mess', would we then be swimming in our own dead skin cells (and those of our pets)? Just wondering...
Laying in bed looking at that picture... it's like I can feel them on me.
Best thing to do is get a cover for your pillow cases and mattress. You can find them online or in home goods stores. Don't go for the least expensive. They really do keep the mites to a minimum, along with the heebie jeebies.
And here I thought that outhouse scene in Slumdog Millionaire was gross. Huh!
"Keep clothing off the floor and shoes out of the room."
hahahaha! oops...
Nothin like that picture to get your attention, eh?
"Dust mites are harmless to most people."
"So what can you do to live dust mite free?"
Sparrow, remind me why I should be eager to live dust-mite-free again?
This site is frequently offers hilarious sociological glimpses-- every other post pays lip service to ecology, sustainability, natural-this, organic-that. Yet a harmless dust mite is a thing that must be eradicated.
Nature's good... so long as we don't have to actually live with it!
Dust mites really aren't something I concern myself with. I don't have any issues with them and neither does my boyfriend. There are enough things in this world to worry about; microscopic creatures that don't affect us are not one of those things.
Is it wrong that I like the color palette of that photo?
One thing that wasn't mentioned is to regularly air and sun your bedding, carpets, furniture etc. In the words of my futon guru, "sunlight zaps their little minds." Twenty minutes or so of direct sunlight ought to do it.
They are kind of cute in a sci fi sort of way. I think I'll adopt mine as pets.
Ditto to the previous comments about how pointless it is to worry about dust mites.
Good idea, KWorld! I've already named all
10 million of mine: Sparky, Giggles, Mitey McMiterson, Dr. House...
I don't really get the need to eradicate a harmless, microscopic creature just because the idea makes us uncomfortable. Humans also carry an average of 1kg of bacteria in/on our bodies (mostly in the digestive tract but also on skin, in the mouth and on/in genitalia). Around 95% of us are infected with Epstein-barr virus. These commonplace infections tend to only cause illness in immunocompromised individuals-the rest of us don't need to worry about it. So if you're not sensitive to dust, you don't need to worry about dust mites. Mammals, including human beings, are an ecosystem not a barren environment. I think it helps to be fascinated by these facts rather than nauseated-we are what we are.
kworld and srw have the right idea. I don't have a domestic animal pet right now, and now I know I don't need one, because I'm got Germy and Grimmy and Toddle and Oooky and....the list just goes on and on. So much cheaper with no food or cat litter to buy!
Let's have a new post where we share our Dust Mites' names!
What size are they? How many can dance on the head of a pin?
Patrick (the other one), that made me laugh out loud.... oh dear...
I feel itchy.
Yes, this is a sociological experiment (as someone, I think, mentioned) in what a not-cute (but way NOT gross) pic can do to cute-expecting readers.
We are not a barren ecosystem, that's right, but I don't see the notion of tiny creatures' feces staying where they're put fitting into this concept.
Unfortunately, I was expecting the article to provide ideas about cleaning mattresses which it didn't :(
I like Kate's question, yes how many can dance on the head of a pin..this is a good way to conceptualize. Anyone have the answer???
There is no scientific evidence that has proven there is added weight from dust mites. This old wives tale has pulled out of the drawer over and over and various universities have been attached to it. Dust mites are incredibly small, it would take billions to add any weight. Please see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2545/does-a-mattress-double-its-weight-due-to-dust-mites-and-their-debris
If it weren't for these little mites, you'd have dust everywhere from your sloughed skin.
Being someone who is highly allergic to dust mites, waking up every morning feeling sick with sinus pain and headaches, it is fantastic thing to not have them in your bedroom. I am so allergic to them that I suffered shots twice a week for three months straight. I know many people might not have concerns about them but for those of who do they are not harmless creatures.
So, if we could somehow encourage super-reproduction of these mites, perhaps we would never have to dust?
They are not harmless to everyone. I have terrible allergies. I inherited an old, old mattress from a family member. I was so sick with allergies while using it that I couldn't function on some days. I finally read up on dust mites, and realized my mattress would be crawling with them. I replaced it, covered the new one with a vinyl slip right away, and the difference in my health is significant.
despite the criticisms, i just wanted to thank AT for this post. dust mites aren't harmless for those of allergic to them.
What's worse? Invisible dust mite poop or piles of dead skin cells?
I've seen & heard about dust mites for years, but I recently saw some tv doctor (oz?) report on bedbugs. Seriously made me discontinue "curb shopping". They are incredibly gross (my skin is crawling right now). They bite you, suck your blood, reproduce like crazy & can hide in the teeniest of cracks. If you have a small group of 3 itchy bites on your legs etc., it is from bedbugs. They're becoming a serious problem in North America right now.
I went searching you tube because I wanted to see how they move. Some photos make them look like cattle trundling along in the same direction, but they seemed more termite like in action. They are around 300 microns wide, which means that three of them together are a hair width, if I understand correctly. I enjoyed this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSjCLd50L5I
and take a look at these bullies: ;http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc5DaJnM01w&feature=related
The mites don't bother me..the bedbugs, ewww.
Earlier commenters have beaten me to the punch about the ridiculousness of this, but let me add a couple of extra angles to put this in perspective. Here we have yet again an attempt to get people riled up and afraid so that they will:
1) buy certain products, and
2) consume terrible amounts of energy (e.g., washing curtains in 130 degree water? wtf!)
RQinGeorgia, I'm glad your current mattress is working for you, but your post revealed a classic failure to apply the scientific method. You changed two things at the same time (your whole mattress, and whether or not your mattress was covered): it's therefore quite impossible for you to know which one lessened your allergies.
Let me also point out that a leading theory of allergies suggests that it's the sterilization of our environments that has made average allergy rates increase. Hence, kids who grow up on farms don't have them as much as city kids do. The immune system was crafted by natural selection, and it needs exposure in order to develop, so let the natural environment work for us!
"RQinGeorgia, I'm glad your current mattress is working for you, but your post revealed a classic failure to apply the scientific method. You changed two things at the same time (your whole mattress, and whether or not your mattress was covered): it's therefore quite impossible for you to know which one lessened your allergies."
I actually did cover the old one, first. That helped a little, but not as much as I would have hoped. Since that step didn't work, I didn't find it worth reporting. :)
I didn't grow up on a farm, but I did grow up in rural Maine in a house with cats and dogs, spent lots of time outdoors, gardening, hiking, etc. I developed allergies to dust and mold as an adult, and like the other posters have mentioned, it's not fun. I agree to an extent with both sides of the debate - people who don't have allergies shouldn't be encouraged to worry pointlessly about dust (just clean to the degree that meets your general standard of cleanliness). But I also appreciate posts about reducing dust in bedrooms - this is a repost that I've actually searched for on my own since it was originally posted because I remembered finding the information helpful. For example, "keep furniture and surfaces to a minimum" - that actually is practical. For example, I currently have a bookcase in my bedroom and rereading this post reminded me that I had planned to move the bookcase to the living room, so as to have less surface area where dust can accumulate in the bedroom. There is a logic to this - dust mites live in the bed, people are allergic to the dust produced by the dust mites (not to all dust), so try to keep surfaces/furniture likely to accumulate dust in other rooms (where they may be dusty but less dust mite dusty). This suggestion allows those of us with allergies to clean LESS (that is, it's not actually suggesting that everyone should try to make their entire living space unrealistically sterile/hyperclean). And the world isn't really divided up into those who have allergies and those who don't. Some without may develop them later in life, meet a partner who has them, have a child who has them, etc. So this info may be helpful at some point even to those who think it's irrelevant to them today... On the 130 degree water point, the idea is that it has to be that hot to kill them. I just sort my laundry and wash bedding on the hottest setting and everything else with cold water.
This is a good reminder for me--I'm glad most of you don't have to deal with it, but my daughter is severely allergic and suffers asthma, so this is a concern for us. And I know we didn't cause her to be allergic by over-sterilizing her environment--sometimes people just have allergies.
I really like the sunlight tip, and airing out the room--easy and free. Thanks!
So, do we all agree that this is a perfect compromise for urban renters in pet-free buildings? Personally, I LOLed at the poster who named his mite Dr. House. My favorite mites are named Ally and Gin.
This is so weird that this has been posted this week because I just found out I have a weird skin allergic reaction (which i thought were just regular bug bites) all over me from dust mites. I had to buy a mattress cover, new pillows, clean out my closet entirely from top to bottom, clean all the pictures I have in the room, the windows, my bathroom, pillows, blankets, etc.
It was gross, but its all good now.
This is NOT the post to read five minutes before going to bed!!! =O
I am allergic to dust mite (their waste, actually) and have found the cleaning and covering to be the key. I won't keep my pets out of the bedroom, and we do have carpet, but I always sleep best the nights I have changed the bedding.
Yes, we have germs everywhere, and yes, we usually have the immune systems to fight them off. No, we don't all have to become the OCD guy in As Good as it Gets. BUT, we should all, as civilized beings, CLEAN THE DANG HOUSE occasionally, people. Some more than others, but we all need to do it. Dirty sheets and comforters aired or washed rarely can't be good for anyone, can it?
OK, my skin is crawlin now. Someone else mentioned the sun. My mother told me about my grandmother taking all the mattresses out every spring and letting them sit out in the sun and air out on sawhorses. I know this is hard to do if you live in an apartment though. I also remember an article I read a couple of years ago when they took a poll on how often people change their sheets and some of them actually said, never. That's just plain disgusting. I change my sheets every week and vacummn off my mattress once a month. I think I might even sun my mattress this year.
If you want more info about dust mites and dust allergies, I created a web site about them
www.dustmites.org
Opps, here is the dust mite site I created:
http://www.dustmites.org/