The mites in your home

Dust mites exist in practically every home, and their concentration has little to do with how clean a house is. Even a spotlessly clean home can have high allergen concentrations.

The First National Allergen Survey, led by scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has found that:

“45% of US homes, or approximately 44 million have bedding with dust mite allergen concentrations that exceed 2 micrograms per gram of dust, a level that has been associated with the development of allergies”

www.niehs.nih.gov/oc/news/bedding.htm

In the old days, mite populations were kept down by occasional periods of cold, dry air. But in today's home, kept warm and humid year-round, nothing inhibits them, and their populations soar.

While dust mites often exist in carpets, curtains, and other parts of the house, their largest concentration is usually found in dust mite heaven: our beds.

Beds are warm, humid and dark. The minute quantities of dead skin we shed every night, and the sweat soaked into the mattress provide the mites with all of the food and moisture they need. A typical mattress that is more than 2 years old may contain as many as 2,000,000 mites, each shedding up to 20 dropping pellets each day. The pellets are tiny, only 10-40 microns in diameter, and every time we move or toss in bed, we send a small cloud of them into the air, from where they find their way into our bodies through the nose or mouth.

Dust mites can also be found in carpets, curtains, sofas, and in free dust