Dust mites up Close
Dust mites can be controlled, it may need you to clean
areas a little more regularly. A lot can be done by yourselves and we can
assist with specialized equipment. In the past we have been able to reduce dust
mites and find some people recover. The following will help. Identify the rooms
where the allergy occurs. Then perform the following :
-
Blitz Clean every 3 months for 12 months
o Vacuum
all horizontal surfaces(have a good vacuum with power head)
§ Move
all furniture, so all dust is removed.
o Wash
or Clean soft furnishing (upholstered chairs, carpets, curtains)(req twice per
year)
o Let
the sunlight in
o Bedding/Mattress(Able
Carpet Care can clean mattress) wash and then soak bedding in 1/3 White vinegar(distilled)
and 2/3 Water. Put mattress into sunlight 30+minutes
o Wipe
all horizontal surfaces with Vinegar solution above.
o This
will break the cycle if you cover all areas.
The Cycle
Dust mite eats , it the displaces what it eats(feces)and
you breathe it in then triggers a reaction.
Dust mites and their feces contain an enzyme
that destroys the protective function of the skin, leaving it open to other
irritants
These microscopic
arachnids are ubiquitous and so numerous that, try as you might, they're
impossible
TONIGHT, AS YOU SINK wearily into bed, you won't be alone - even
if you're the only person in the room. Under your slumbering head, the pillow
will teem with potentially thousands of unseen bed mates,
feasting on your fallen skin flakes.
The good news is they don't bite. The bad news is
they'll be procreating, defecating, dying and decomposing in your bedding,
couches, carpets and clothes. Essentially, we all spend a good deal of time
wallowing in dust-mite filth.
The humble dust mite - the species Dermatophagoides
pteronyssinus is most common in Australia - is an arachnid, a relative
of spiders and ticks. It's less than half a millimetre long but what it lacks
in size, it makes up for in abundance. The detritus in our old pillows is made
up mostly of sloughed skin, but the microscopic dust mites, alive and dead, are
also there in their thousands, along with mite dung.
CSIRO entomology researcher Dr Matthew Colloff,
author of the book Dust Mites, puts the numbers of dead dust mites (only about
5 per cent are alive) in an average bed at between 100,000 and more than 1
million, depending on conditions. "If you're above 500 mites per gram of
dust, which contains skin scales, organic debris, mould, ash, crumbs and all
sorts of things, you're getting into pretty high mite numbers," explains
Matthew. "The highest ever recorded [level] was about 12,000 per
gram. Now, if you make a circle with your thumb and index finger, a gram of
dust would fit in there, so imagine 12,000 mites in that kind of space."
The fact that our skin scales are their main food
source means generally, wherever we are, they are, says Dr Peter Dingle,
associate professor in health and the environment at Murdoch University's
School of Environmental Science. "We shed literally millions of skin cells
every day but they have to be dehydrated and de-fatted by mould," he
explains. "The mites wait for the mould to attack and then they feed on
both."
COMPLEX FATS AND PROTEINS also make skin scales tough to digest, says
Matthew, but the mites have chambers in their gut that act as fermentation
tanks. "They probably have skin scales sloshing around in an enzyme soup
for prolonged periods," he says. "It's like skin-enzyme
porridge."
A seemingly less advantageous evolutionary quirk
involves breeding. Dust mites mate for 24 hours at a time, probably because the
males penis is only about as wide as the sperm. "Our best guess is mating
is so prolonged because the sperm is coming out more or less single file,"
Matthew says. "Why it would have evolved like that, no-one knows."
In optimal conditions mites live for about six
weeks, each producing about 20 fecal pellets a day and females lay about 30
eggs during their life span. During weeks, months and years, the debris formed
by live and dead mites and their waste accumulates. It's the fecal pellets -
just 20 microns across and easily inhaled when bed-making or vacuuming make
them airborne - and the mites' decomposing bodies that cause problems for
humans.
This material contains a series of proteins that
are highly allergenic for susceptible people, causing everything from
sneezing, itchy eyes and a blocked, runny nose, to a severe asthma
attack. There are about 20 known allergens and most, but not all, occur in the
mites' feces.
DR JANET RIMMER, a respiratory physician and director of the
National Asthma Council Australia, says about 45 per cent of the Australian
population suffer from allergies, and of those about 80 per cent are allergic
to dust mites. While they're most dangerous to the 20-30 per cent of us
with asthma, they don't always cause asthmatics to be allergic. And not all
people allergic to dust mites have asthma. Historical studies of asthmatics
being taken into hospitals or sanitariums have produced variable results.
"Those were obviously lower dust-mite
environments and some people got better, but not everybody did," Jane
says. "Dust-mite allergens are playing a role but we don't always know how
much." The mites' role in allergies wasn't discovered until the mid-1960s,
and early investigations into reducing the effect on allergies and asthma by
cutting exposure were hampered by social stigma - people then had no knowledge
of mite allergens. "The news that their homes were infested with mites
which were making their children sick may have reduced their compliance
with interventions," Matthew says.
Since then, extensive research has failed to yield
a cure. A 2008 review compiled for the international Cochrane medical database
found none of the research measures to reduce exposure to house dust mites had
any discernable benefit for asthmatics. "After pouring bucket loads of
money into dust mites in the late 1980s and 1990s, I think the funding bodies
got fed up with it because it hasn't been solved, so they've gone on to things
that are more sexy," Matthew says. "But dust mites are still a huge
public health problem and we haven't cracked it. There's a lot we still don't
know."
REDUCING YOUR EXPOSURE:Dust mites are found everywhere - traces have even
been identified on the Mir Space Station and in Antarctica. Many Australian
cities offer warm, humid environments that make them well-suited as breeding
grounds. Sydney and Melbourne are particular hot spots. It's impossible to clear
your world completely of dust mites. Anyone professing to be able to is talking
rubbish, says Dr Matthew Colloff. But dramatically cutting exposure to mites
(by about 95 per cent) can reduce symptoms, and the following steps can help:
1 - Expose mattresses to the
sun; dust mites are very susceptible to dehydration.
2 - Wash bedding weekly with tea-tree or eucalyptus oil or in 55˚C plus
water, which kills mites and washes away allergens. Ten minutes in a hot dryer
will also kill mites, as will dry-cleaning, although it doesn't get rid of
allergens.
3 - Replace soft toys in bedrooms with wooden or plastic ones, or
hot-wash them weekly.
4 - Consider replacing carpet with hard flooring and keep bedroom
windows open.
5 - Use a vacuum with a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter.
Note: allergen levels in the air will be higher for up to 20 minutes after
vacuuming.
Copy from Australian Geographic
The fibre is from the polyester family of man made fibres. 
