The Truth About Dust Mites

Dust mites feed on human skin flakes and live mainly in mattresses and similar warm, dark places. Bed-making sends dust mites airborne causing them to be found in floor dust, mainly in bedrooms. To the dust mite, carpets are a hostile environment: too cold, too dry, too exposed to the light and too regularly cleaned. And since carpets, unlike smooth floorcoverings, hold dust in their structure, dust mites will be removed by vacuum or wet cleaning.

Dustmites cannot live on wool carpets. They eat flakes of human skin. Wool carpets generally contain very low levels of permethrin, a natuarrly occuring substance that kills very small insects.

Installing a wool carpet is a very good thing to do if there are asthma sufferers in your home.

By their very nature, wool carpets and rugs are good for the indoor environment. That's because wool, unlike synthetic fibers, rapidly absorbs common contaminants in indoor air like formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Not only does wool keep the air free of many harmful pollutants, it will not re-emit them, even when heated. In fact, it has been estimated that wool carpets can continually purify indoor air for up to 30 years!

Discard old and dirty mattresses, bedding, pillows and furnishings

If possible, sleep with windows open to reduce the amount of mositure in the bedroom (for breathing).

Reduce the room temperature and thickness of bedding to reduce persepration. - Most people sleep better in a cooler room.

After you get up, air the bed with the windows open. Electric blankets aslo create a dryer environment.

Avoid placing pot plants, flowers and other sources of moisture in bedrooms.

For children who suffer from dust mite allergy, regularly freeze soft toys for 72 hours. Then wash the soft toys.

Statistical data from Sweden's Central Statistics Bureau, Army, and Flooring Association shows that over the past 20 years while the installation of carpet went down and that of hard floor coverings went up, the number of allergic people increased dramatically over the same period.

House dust mites are too small to be seen by the naked eye.

They release minute amounts of a very potent allergen in their poo. This is the irritants that causes the onset of Asthma.

Other triggers can be

Tobacco smoke
Pollens
Certain foodstuffs
Pollution

House dust mites feed on flakes of dead skin which are continually shed by people during their daily activities. Mites do well in areas of high humidity such as bedding.

Exposure ot house dust mite allergen can be minimised by regular cleaning of bedding, upholstery's and carpets.