Ewwwwwww, Dust Mites:
The other day a friend and I were watching the television show “the Doctors” where a team of good looking people in scrubs and white lab coats answer a myriad of medical related questions and dispense seemingly valuable advice. In this particular episode an “expert” on allergens claimed that ‘dust mites can cause a pillow to double its weight in five years”. Yecch!
One of the doctors conveniently brought along a pillow he’d been using for over ten years. The expert cut open the pillow to display the disgusting, oily, mite-ridden interior. To the panel’s and expert’s chagrin, the interior of the pillow was a pristine white downy fluff. They immediately cut to commercial. The problems are many-fold and I’m surprised the producers (and this so-called expert) didn’t do the proper research.
First: Dust mites are invisible because they only measure 420 micrometers in length and 250 to 320 micrometers in width! An average feather pillow weighs approximately one pound. Imagine how many dust mites it would take to make up a pound (16 ounces)? Millions upon millions. These little creatures are lighter than air, floating around in currents and then using their eight tiny legs to grab onto fibers. Yes, they are arachnids, like spiders!
Second: The average life cycle for a male house dust mite is 10 to 19 days. A mated female house dust mite can live for 70 days, laying 60 to 100 eggs in the last 5 weeks of her life. So the imagined weight increase of the pillow would have to be made up of dead mites, which would weigh significantly less. Even the accumulation of their feces and dead bodies together plus our old skin cells couldn’t make up such weight.
Third: It’s complete poppycock! The Wall Street Journal even reported this false-hood, about the increased weight of pillows. The reporter quoted a scientist from Ohio State University as her source for the information. However, the website: The Straight Dope, from April 7, 2000 says:
“Just heard from a somewhat ticked-off Emmett Glass, the OSU research associate that the Wall Street Journal reporter said was the source of the claim that a mattress will double its weight due to dust mites: Emmett writes: “I never quoted that statistic. I told [the reporter] that Internet web sites have statistics that try to strike fear in the consumer, thus promoting their products…She asked me if any of these statistics have any scientific merit and I told her…NO! In fact I asked the Wall Street Journal writer to call an expert on mattresses at the internal sleep products association. She did and was told that the statistic on mattresses doubling in weight was far from the truth. The journalist chose to include it in the story anyway. She liked the statistic because it made her story more interesting.”
There is a lot of misinformation like this out there. A Google search will come up with this heading: “Dust Mites, Everything You Might Not Want to Know!!!” which takes you to (www.ehso.com/ehshome/dustmites.php). This website repeats the same mistaken information as the Wall Street reporter, but it even goes further. It claims that in order to avoid dust mites one should: “Replace feather and down pillows with those having synthetic fillings. Replace woolen blankets with nylon or cotton cellulose ones.” Here’s an answer to this from Wikipedia: “Allergy and asthma sufferers are also often advised to avoid feather pillows due to the presumed increased presence of the house dust mite [allergen]. The reverse, however, is true. A 1996 study from the British Medical Journal has shown that polyester fiber pillows contained more than 8 times the total weight of [the allergen] and 3.57 times more micrograms of [the allergen] per gram of fine dust than feather pillows”
Now for some other facts:
Dust mites primarily eat old skin cells which humans (and our pets) slough off at a rate of about 1.5g every day. They can produce approximately 2000 fecal particles and partially digested enzyme-covered dust particles during their 10 week life spans. It’s these particles people are allergic to, or to be precise, it’s the enzymes. Dust mites can’t directly digest the skin cells; like a cow they have enzymes in their gut (proteases) which they regularly cough back up for later snacking. They only eat moist cells which have begun being broken down by fungi, hence they can’t eat dry skin cells at all. They require moisture, which is present in humid houses, especially on mattresses and pillows due to our breathing and perspiration.
Dust mites can be killed by exposing them to 140degrees for an hour, freezing them, or even exposing them to 68 degrees or less for a period of time. You should always uncover the sheets after sleeping in them in order to dry them out. Ten minutes in a household clothes dryer on high heat will usually kill them. UV light (sunlight) also kills them along with many other tiny household bacteria and pests.
So, although these little creatures are not quite as bad as many websites or television shows would have us believe, they are still ewwwwww inspiring!
You have me itching so bad right now! Time for a hot shower!