Dust mites are relatives to ticks and spiders. But house dust mites are so small, that they can not be seen with the naked eye. These arachnids (i.e. a group of arthropods that include spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites) have eight legs, and the females can produce more then 200 offspring in their short life span. Due to their fertility, up to 1,000,000 living dust mites can inhabit one single bed in your home, in addition to millions of dead ones.
Dust mites are present in more or less every home, and live in mattresses, pillows, comforters, carpets, blankets, curtains and upholstered furniture. Mites especially thrive under warm and humid conditions. Just like bed bugs, dust mites live where humans are, because their main source of food comes from the human body. Dust mites live from eating shedded human skin cells, whereas bed bugs live from human blood.
Dust mite allergies are some of the most common allergies. But it is not the dust mite directly that triggers allergic reactions and asthma attacks, but rather the dust mite's feces pellets and the fragments of their dead bodies. These particles become air borne and are then easily inhaled during the day or at night when you are sleeping. One of the main problems in fighting dust mites is that the dust mite remains can cause allergic reactions and asthma attacks long after the dust mite has died. There are, however, several effective steps you can take to fight dust mites in your home. One is to wash all your bedding with anti allergen laundry detergent. Using high quality allergy friendly cleaning products will break down the protein in the dust mite allergens (as well as other allergens such as pet dander and pollen) that is responsible for causing allergic reactions.
Another important step in limiting your daily exposure to dust mite allergens in your home is the use of a high efficient HEPA air purifier. A good air purifier will filter the air in your home and take out dust mite allergens, as well as most other air pollution. When buying an air purifier, you should make sure that it uses HEPA filtration, is powerful enough to clean the air 2-3 times per hour in the room where you will use it, and that it does not create any negative by-products-such as ozone. To learn more about buying an air purifier, click here.
Allergic encasings for your bed is another good way to decrease allergic reactions to dust mites. These encasings create a protective layer between you and the dust mites in your mattress, blankets and pillows. Allergic encasings are more tightly woven then regular bedding, so that they trap dust mites and their allergens away from you and your family. The problem with allergic bedding is that it is often too tightly woven, and thus is not breathable.
