Could yours and your family’s health be under attack in your own home?. The humble Dust Mites are microscopic arthropods (up to 0.3 mm in size) related to ticks and spiders. The mites are turtle like things with eight legs and are they cannot be seen with the human eye. They thrive on the decaying dead skin flakes in house dust – skin that we shed every time we move or scratch etc. There’s hardly a house in the USA or Europe without them.
The fascinating thing is the number can vary greatly between houses in the same road, some containing huge numbers and others almost none. The Mites’ survival does not only depend on the amount of dust, but very much on how humid the house is. They must have high humidity just to keep living.
When they encounter these optimum circumstances, these Mites are able to thrive for anywhere up to 3-4 months. The females can lay as many as 25 to 50 eggs, with a new “crop” produced every three weeks!
Incredibly, it is not the Mite itself that is the problem. It is their droppings that are the problem. They need help (a chemical method) to break down the shed skin before it can be digested. This is the problem (or rather what happens when the digestion is completed). The chemical along with the digested skin passes into the droppings.
Remember that the mite is so incredibly tiny and its droppings will be much smaller yet. One mite will produce maybe twenty droppings every day. Each of these droppings holds perhaps 10-12 bundles of sub pellets that are about 2-10 micron in size and contain their left over enzymes. Once disturbed, by a gust of wind or someone walking through a room, these droppings become airborne. They are so light that they can float around in the atmosphere for hours.
The trouble is, this is right where your nose is gathering it’s air from.As we breathe in the air, we also inhale the mite droppings. Sadly, these contain those powerful protein enzymes that digest our skin. The trouble is that these enzymes do not know the difference between live or dead skin.
So they go to work on the linings of your nose and bronchial tubes (what you use to breath and stay alive!
Over time this carries on unnoticed until you become “sensitised”. By this time the linings have become swollen and reduced in size. You are vulnerable to have an attack. These can be triggered by various things… pollen, pollution, car fumes, paint, VOCs (volatile organic compounds). This is when the body reacts to it and starts off an allergic reaction. How do we combat this?
Remember, they can only survive in relatively high humidity. Make sure your house is well ventilated. Open the windows whenever you can. Keep you house as clean and dust free as you can. Make sure your vacuum cleaner has clean filters and if appropriate, change the bag when it is less than half full.
If possible, use a water filtration vacuum cleaner. They pass the dust over a tank of water. The dust and dirt gets captured by the water and is not sent back up in the atmosphere like it is with some systems. Use a professional carpet cleaner. They will remove the mites without leaving your carpets soggy. This is vital as a damp carpet can quickly become heaven for dust mites (remember, they love warm moist conditions). Ask your carpet cleaner about anti mite treatment (you can buy carpet protector with this built in. The anti mite treatment stays in place and works away night and day). This way you’ll have year round protection.
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