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What are dust
mites and what can we do about them?
Dust mites are small
microscopic creatures that feed on human, pet dead skin
cells & hair. In a pillow you can find up to a 10
million of them. Dust mites prefer humidity and high
temperatures, usually you find them in bedrooms
(mattress, sheets, pillows, blankets) living areas
(carpet, upholstery, drapes) and the reason behind that
is because that’s where we spend most of our time and
that means a lot of food supply for them, approximately
about two pounds a year of dead skin cells and hair from
each and every one of us.
How dangerous are
they?
Even though
frightening looking if observed under microscope for
most people dust mites are not dangerous but their
droppings and their cast skin is what causes in some
people allergy symptoms and asthma in to the future. In
case of similar symptoms an allergist, a medical doctor
specially trained to treat allergies, should be
consulted for proper diagnosis and treatment of
allergies.
How to get rid
of dust mites and how to minimize their contamination?
Now we know where
they live and what they feed on. We also know what part
of them influences our health. Our mission is now to get
rid of the dust mites their cast skin and droppings.
Vacuuming plays an important part helping remove the
major part of the dust, dust mites and especially our
own and our pets dead skin cells as their primary food
source.
Even though
important, vacuuming alone won’t do it, vacuuming would
remove approximately 79% of the dry particulate nature
soil (not dust mites only dirt in general) from your
carpet, mattress or upholstery. When you do so make sure
you are using a good vacuum with a Hepa filtration
system just so you don’t exhaust everything back in your
home.
This little monsters
like and they can live inside the mattress, upholster
and deep down in the carpet piles sometime is hard and
challenging to get at them so professional help is
required, it is a fairly inexpensive process with
tremendously tangible results which should be part of
your yearly house cleaning and maintenance routine.
There is few
ways of getting rid of dust mites and their Allergens.
High or low
temperature kills dust mites.
Freezing yes is one
of the methods, maybe not commonly used because it will
kill the dust mites if belongings placed in a freezer
for a period of approximately 48 hours but it won’t
remove the dust mite droppings and their cast skin which
causes the allergies.
In the other hand
washing the effected belongings with a high temperature
over 140◦F would lead in higher efficiency in
killing the dust mites and washing away there allergens.
For belonging that can not be washed such as mattress,
upholstery & carpet professionals use steam cleaning
which removes the dust mites and their droppings
combined with anti dust mite spray which kills them and
denatures the protein in their cast skin or droppings.
Another way would be
Vapor Cleaning. When this method is executed has to be
followed with vacuuming to remove any dead dust mites or
allergens. If you hire a contractor make sure they are
in possession of a commercial vapor cleaner with a steam
temperature over 300◦F and has a vacuum build
in to extract back the steam and the dust mites and
their allergens.
After the cleaning
is done you should make sure to wash all sheets and
blankets in order to prevent the contamination of you
freshly clean mattress or other belongings.
There is also a
cover sheet you can buy almost in any department store
ore local furniture store which can reduce or slow down
the contamination of mattress from dust mites. It is
usually placed on top of the mattress, complete plastic
cover are available in Allergy Stores for more sensitive
people. If you are sensitive to allergens replace any
natural fibers such as wool, feather with synthetic
nylon or cotton ones.
And at last but not
least don’t forget your stuffed animals or soft
children’s toys which can be also a great home for the
little monsters.
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