How healthy is your home?. The tiny Dust Mites are miniscule arthropods (up to 0.3 mm in size) related to ticks and spiders. The mites are turtle like things with eight legs and are too small to be seen with the human eye. They feed on the discarded dead skin flakes in house dust – skin that we lose every time we move or scratch etc. There's hardly a house in the USA or Europe without them.
The strange thing is the number can vary wildly between houses in the same block, some containing huge numbers and others almost none. The Mites' survival depends, not on the amount of dust, but rather on the amount of humidity in the house. They need high humidity just to survive.
In these perfect conditions, these Mites can to live for anywhere between 3-4 months. The females can lay up to 25 to 50 eggs, with a new generation produced every twenty one days!
Strangely, it is not the Mite itself that is the problem. It is their waste that is 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 finished). The enzyme along with the waste skin passes into the droppings.
Don't forget that the mite is so microscopic and its droppings will be many times smaller yet. Each mite will produce perhaps 20 or so droppings every day. Each of these droppings holds around 10-12 bundles of sub pellets roughly 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 ages.
The trouble is, this is right where your nose is gathering it's air from.As we breathe, we also inhale the mite droppings. Sadly, these contain those powerful protein enzymes that digest our skin. The trouble is that these enzymes cannot differentiate 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 a period of time this carries on unnoticed until you become "sensitised". By this time the linings have become damaged and reduced in size. You are about 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 decides it has had enough and throws up an allergic reaction. What can we do to stop it?
Two things help. Ventilation and good vacuum cleaner filtration. Increase the ventilation of the house and make sure the bag is replaced regularly
If you can, use a water filter vacuum cleaner. They pass the dust over a container full of water. Dust and debris gets captured by the water and is not sent back up in the atmosphere as it is with some systems. Have your carpets professionally cleaned. Make sure they are done properly and dried off quickly (a poor cleaning job will leave the carpets warm and damp – ideal conditions for mites to multiply). Ask your carpet cleaner to use mite killer and then apply an anti mite protector. This way you'll have year round protection.
Author Resource:
William Watson writes for the cleaning and maintenance Industry. He has worked as a carpet cleaner Birmingham for well over a decade. If you would like to see some excellent videos, please go to http://www.correct-office-carpet-cleaning.co.uk
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