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Do you know what lives in your mattress?
The mattress on which you spend a third of your life is just like a jungle.
Imagine. Continuous supply of your perspiration, warm, humid conditions from the warmth of your body and your breathe, all under the cover of darkness. Under your bed clothes and the cover of night, gigantic plants and moulds thrive. Together they create a perfect breeding ground for bacteria in your mattress!
Another inhabitant in your bed is the dustmite. Almost impossible to see with the naked eye, but they are certainly there, 2,000 to 15,000 of them per gram of dust.
The dust mite eats the mould in your mattress. This in turn helps them easily digest dead skin cells from you and those of your pets, known as dander. In fact, it is your skin cells which interests them the most. Every night you can shed up to 1 gram of skin, a real treat for the house dust mites, but not for you. Remember the old adage "what goes in, must come out"? The dustmite defecates the remains of their food, up to 50 waste particles a day, the most common trigger of asthma and dust mite allergy symptoms and for some people, dust mites eczema.
For most people, dust mite are not harmful. From 1921, research found house dust to give positive reactions to sensitive people. By 1967, it was found many people were allergic to the protein in house dust mites and faeces which can trigger dust mite allergy symptoms such as rhinitis allergic or bronchial asthma attacks.
Deratophogoides Pteronyssinus translated from Latin "skin eating spider" or more commonly known as the house dust mite. Related to spiders, ticks and lice, the eight legged member belongs to the arachnid family. They thrive in warm, humid conditions, similarly found along the eastern seaboard of Australia and New Zealand, and less commonly found in dry or high altitude regions.
Dust mites do not drink free water, but absorb it from the environment. They are hardy, surviving and multiplying best when relative humidity is 65 - 75% and the temperature is around 20 - 21C. Dustmite numbers increase during spring and reach a peak mid summer. They do not survive well at low relative humidities, especially at higher temperatures. Their numbers reduce during cooler months when the air becomes much drier, due to internal heating.
Dust mite thrive best in mattresses, doonas, pillows, and underlays, and to a lesser degree in blankets and quilts. Half that number of dust mites again live in carpets and rugs, and the other half live in upholstered furniture, lounges, curtains, clothes and soft toys. They can also be found in your vacuum cleaner and car. By booking in matress cleaning with specialised mattress cleaning equipment and carpet cleaning during September and October, allergens can be effectively reduced and removed before accumulation becomes an exposure risk. Environmentally safe cleaning products, allergy free bedding or air purifiers can provide further welcome relief.
Adult female house dust mites lay cream coloured eggs coated with sticky fluid that helps them adhere, similar to lice that sometimes infest school children hair. Thirty days is the life cycle from egg to adult. The dustmite proteins are so light that they float into the air when disturbed. Even with the slightest movements, like simply turning in bed or making up the bed in the morning, are enough to cause large amounts of dust mite proteins to swirl into the air around you.
Fortunately for all, especially for those of you with house dust mite allergy, in every jungle, however microscopic, there are predators like silverfish, dust lice, pseudoscorpions and Chelyteus Aversor that prey on dustmite, the dust mite killer. Yet completely killing dust mites is out of the question.
