Sleep Tight Don’t Let The Dust Mites Bite

8/18/2001
Sleep Tight… Don’t Let The Dust Mites Bite
Press Release

ATLANTA (August 18, 2001) – Dust mites are microscopic creatures that live in pillows, mattresses, blankets, carpets, and other soft materials. They are often thought of as insects, but are actually tiny arachnids, relatives of spiders and ticks. Like germs, they cannot be seen with the human eye.

Thriving in warm, humid conditions, dust mites do not live on people, but rather near them. Because their primary food sources are the humidity in the air and the dead skins scales we shed every day, dust mites love bedding where they can burrow into the fabric and escape the light. Depending on its age, your mattress contains between one and ten million dust mites. A female dust mite lays 60 eggs and each mite lives 80 days during which time it produces roughly 1,000 allergy-provoking waste particles. Live mites themselves are not inhaled, but instead the produced waste, feces and body fragments of dead dust mites, are what cause allergy symptoms.

Dust mite numbers appear to peak in July and August and allergens persist at high levels through December. And 80 percent of people with allergies and asthma test positive for dust mites in allergy skin testing.

So how do you eliminate these creatures, decrease allergic symptoms and reduce medication intake? achoo! ALLERGY & Air Products, Inc. offers the following tips:

  1. Start by encasing pillows, mattresses, and box springs in anti-allergen encasings to cut off their food source and prevent mite allergens from becoming airborne and being inhaled.
  2. Wash all bedding in hot water every two weeks. This will kill live mites and wash out accumulated allergens. Keep in mind you do not need to forego your luxurious sleep environment. Find bedding materials that can withstand the rigors of frequent hot water washings.
  3. Use HEPA air cleaners to remove airborne allergen particles like animal dander, mold spores and pollen.
  4. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter that entraps allergens and prevents them from blowing out through the exhaust.
  5. Avoid upholstered furniture; leather and wood are better alternatives.
  6. Remove carpeting in the bedroom if possible. If you cannot remove the carpeting, use a dry dust mite carpet cleaner to denature dust mite allergen.
  7. Wash and dry-clean clothes frequently and keep clothing in a closet with the door shut.
  8. Clean drawers, closets, and surfaces with an electrostatic cloth to pick up dust rather than move it around.
  9. Monitor and reduce humidity by using air conditioning and/or dehumidification units. Mites grow best at 75-80% relative humidity but cannot live under 50% humidity.

 
Breathe better. To find these products and more, visit achoo! ALLERGY & Air Products at 3872 Roswell Road in Buckhead or call 404-237-3100.