How Deadly Are Your Soft Furnishings To Your Health?
How Deadly Are Your Soft Furnishings To Your Health?
If you think you live in a healthy home, this may shock you. You’ve got millions of microscopic bugs that are trying to eat you alive.
The tiny Dust Mites are pocket sized arthropods (one eightieth of an inch long) related to ticks and spiders. These horrid little things are turtle shaped things
with eight legs and are they cannot be seen with the human eye. They live on the discarded dead skin flakes in house dust – skin that we lose every time we
move or scratch etc.
There’s hardly a house anywhere in the USA or Europe without them. The unusual thing is the amount can vary enormously between houses in the same street,
some containing huge numbers and others hardly any. That’s because the Mites’ survival does not only depend on the amount of dust, but more vitally, on the
amount of humidity in the house. They can only survive in conditions of high humidity.
When they find these optimal circumstances, Dust Mites can to live for anywhere up to 3-4 months. The females can lay up to 25 to 50 eggs, with a new
generation born every twenty one days! Funnily, it is not the Mite itself that we become allergic to. It is their waste that is the danger. They need help (a
chemical method) to break down the shed skin before it can be digested. This is the problem (or rather what happens when the digestion is completed). The
enzyme along with the waste skin passes into the droppings.
Bear in mind that the mite is so microscopic and its droppings will be many times smaller yet. Each mite will produce about twenty droppings every day.
Each of these droppings holds approximately 10-12 smaller sub pellets roughly about 2-10 micron in size and contain their left over enzymes. Once
disturbed, by a gust of wind or someone walking through a room, these droppings become airborne. They are so light that they can float around in the
atmosphere for ages. The trouble is, this is right where your nose is gathering it’s air from.As we breathe in the air, we also inhale the mite droppings. Sadly,
these come complete with those powerful protein enzymes that digest our skin.
The trouble is that these enzymes cannot differentiate between live or dead skin. So they go to work on the linings of your nose and bronchial tubes (in other
words what you breathe through). Over time this goes on unabated until you become “sensitised”. By this time the linings have become damaged and reduced
in size. You are vulnerable to have an attack.
These can be triggered by various things such as… pollen, pollution, car fumes, paint, VOCs (volatile organic compounds). This is when the body reacts to it
and starts off an allergic reaction.
What can we do to stop it?
Bear in mind, they can only survive in relatively high humidity. Make sure your house is well ventilated. Open the windows whenever you can. Keep you
house as clean and dust free as you can. Make sure your vacuum cleaner has clean filters and if appropriate, change the bag when it is less than half full. If
you can, use a water filtration vacuum cleaner. They pass the dust over a container full of water. Dust and debris gets captured by the water which stops it
being thrown back into the air as it is with some systems. Use a professional carpet cleaner. They will remove the mites without leaving your carpets soggy.
This is vital as a damp carpet can quickly become heaven for dust mites (remember, they love warm moist conditions). Ask your carpet cleaner to use mite
killer and then apply an anti mite protector. This way you’ll have twelve month protection from this killer in your home.
This article was written by a carpet cleaner Birmingham. For more information, go to http://www.carpetcleanerwestmidlands.co.uk
