What Are Dust Mites

Bring Back Memories, Not Bed Bugs

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You have probably seen lots of articles and blogs written about avoiding bed bugs when you travel.  If you weren’t planning a trip or weren’t thinking about bed bugs, you probably didn’t read them.  I know I wouldn’t unless I worked where I do and talk to people on a daily basis with bed bug problems.

To summarize:

  • Put luggage in the back seat and not the trunk of the rental car;
  • Never place luggage on floor or bed of hotel/motel room;
  • Inspect bed upon arrival for signs of bed bugs;
  • Keep luggage closed and zipped up while it is in the room.

But, what about if despite these precautions you bring home a few souvenir bed bugs?  How can you keep this accident from becoming a large problem?

Don’t unpack your luggage at your house and by all means, don’t every place your suitcase on your bed! That’s right, when you come home, no matter how tired you are, put the suitcases in the garage, carport, or patio.

Don’t bring them in the house. 

If a bed bug was hitching a ride, then when he decides to go mobile, he won’t do it in your house.  There isn’t much to eat or do in the garage or carport or patio so he can starve or die of loneliness.  It’s not your concern.  Much like a vampire, you just don’t want to invite him inside.

Once you are ready to unpack, gather all your clothing and take it straight to the laundry room and into the washer.  If it is more than one load, leave it outside until it can come into the washer.  If your clothing is not washable, then put it in the dryer on high heat for 20 minutes.  That will kill any hidden bugs.

Once the luggage is empty, carefully inspect all the creases and folds, especially the lining.  A flashlight can make this job easier.  Look for hidden bugs.

If you own a dry heat steamer (like the Vapamore Primo) this is a great time to steam the inside and outside of the suitcase.  Even if you don’t see signs of bugs, it’s a good idea to freshen up your suitcase on occasion, just for hygiene purposes.

Make sure the item is completely dry, zip it closed and now you can store it.  Because I keep my suitcases in a closet that contains off-season clothing, I never put my suitcase right away.  It doesn’t hurt the suitcase or takes up too much room in my garage if I keep it out there for 7 to 10 days just to be sure.

Not that I have a paranoid fear of bed bugs, but like I said, I talk to people every day that bring the buggers home from a trip.

If you have one of our zippered bed bug covers already on your bed, you know that no matter where they roam, the bed bug won’t make it into your mattress.  That is also a comforting feeling when you get back in your own bed after a long trip.

Dorothy was right, there really is no place like home. Just don’t share yours with bed bugs.

Till next time,

Cheryl Krause

Dust Mites and Bed Bugs are Not the Same

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Some people are confused. Dust mites do not live off blood, they eat dead skin our dead skin cells. Bed bugs, on the other hand, do live off blood. If you find yourself waking up with small red bites or see little streaks of blood on the sheets then there is a good chance you have a bed bug problem.

What are bed bugs?  It’s a question that many people have been asking as the tiny pests have had a resurgence in recent years.  After disappearing as a problem in the early 20th century, in the last decade or so, bed bugs have become a serious problem again in North America and other parts of the world.  Infestations have cropped everywhere from poor communities to five-star hotels.

So what exactly are these bugs?   They are a small, brownish, oval and flattened insect from the family Cimicidae.   They can’t fly but their tiny, flat bodies allow them to access even the most seemingly secure places through the slightest of cracks or holes.  They multiply fairly rapidly, with females laying several eggs every day and several hundred in a lifetime.

They feed off the blood of mammals and do most of their feeding at night, therefore they tend to congregate in areas where the feeding is best.  In the case of humans, that usually means mattresses and box springs, which has given them their common name, bed bugs.  When asking what are bed bugs, that’s the simple answer.  Obviously, for people who have endured infestations, the bigger answer is that bed bugs are a royal nuisance.

What are bedbugs carrying? Unlike some insects, bed bugs are not known to carry any infectious diseases, so infestations are not considered dangerous, though they can be extremely annoying.  The biggest problem with bed bugs is their bites, the result of their tapping into their favorite food source.  Like most insect bites, they can be itchy and uncomfortable, though they aren’t immediately harmful.

The only real danger is not from the bites themselves but from scratching them, which can lead to infection or can aggravate the body’s natural allergic reaction and make it worse.  For this reason, the real question to ask is not what are bed bugs, but rather what can be done to stop their spread and prevent uncomfortable side effects.

Once you have identified a bed bug infestation, you will need to take steps to clean and secure the room involved.  This includes taking apart the bed, cleaning all surfaces with a portable steam cleaner as steam kills the bugs, then vacuuming thoroughly.  There are some insecticides designed to target bed bugs, but it is generally not a good idea to use products like these on beds and bedding.

Instead, once you have thoroughly cleaned your mattress, box spring, and pillows, you can encase each of them in specially designed bed bug mattress covers.  These covers are made from a very dense fabric that will not allow bed bugs to get through.  Simply slip them on, zip them up, and you won’t have to ask what are bed bugs anymore as they will be a thing of the past!

Bed bugs can be a very real concern and can crop up in even the cleanest of environments.  Now that you know what are bed bugs, if you suspect you have a problem, take the necessary measures to rid the room of all signs of them and use allergy covers to protect your bed.  With these steps, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing you’re not sharing your bed with any unwanted guests.

Sleep Tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite.

Wash Your Bedding to Get Rid Of Dust Mites

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One of the dust mitessimple things you can do today, as soon as you finish reading this, is wash your bedding. Eliminating dust mites and their allergens from sheets, blankets, mattress pads and comforters is easy and effective.

Just wash all these items in hot water (140°) water. Washing in hot water will kill the mites and remove the allergens. If you can’t wash in hot water there are laundry products available that allow you to wash in warm and cold water. If you have a dryer that has the sanitizing setting you can use it for blankets and comforters.

Don’t forget the decorative bedspreads or pillow covers. They collect dust and allergens as well. Since you don’t want to wash them because they will fade you should put them in the dryer every 2 weeks on air full for about 15-20 minutes. The dust that has collected on top will get shaken loose and vented outside.

Please keep,in mind if you have low quality blankets and comforters they will not hold up to repeated washes so you may want to pop them in the dryer as well. A good quality blanket will normally hold up to 40-50 washes before they start to show wear.

Last but not least. Dust mites are common to most households and have little to do with general housekeeping.

 

Products That Are Effective For Dust Mite Allergies

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Been awhile since we have posted anything about dust mites or anything else for that matter.

The question came up the other day about products that were really effective for dust mite allergies. In particular they were talking about using those UV wands to kill dust mites on a mattress. They think they want to add a mattress cleaning service to their company.

There are all sorts of products on the market that claim they can kill or control dust mites and the allergens they produce. Some work but most don’t. If you want to read about products that DO work please check out this article, Dust Mite Products That Really Work. Cheryl at the Allergy Store really does know here stuff.

Back to the UV question and mattress cleaning. First of all there is not a vacuum made that has enough suction to pull air all the way through a mattress or even half of it. Not going to happen.

UV does kill different types of bacteria but the contact time (how long the light shines on it) varies by what you are trying to kill. Just running a wand down a mattress is not going to cut it.

Now we have used the ADMS spray (see Cheryl’s article) on the mattress and it was effective. The key to using it or any other spray is making sure the mattress is dry before you put it back together. If it is not you can end up with a mold problem that will make dust mites look easy.

In the end I told  them they would be better off selling their customer dust mite proof bedding. Much more effective and they would have happier clients.

Ever wonder why dust mites cause allergic reactions? Find out more here.

What Are Dust Mites

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Dust mites were not really been known to humans until 1964. Dust mites are arachnids, like spiders, and thus have eight legs. They belong in the Pyroglyphidae family that is of the mites and are microscopic organisms that are almost invisible to the naked eye. An average dust mite measures about only 0.4mm in length and about 0.32mm in width. It is possible to see them through if they are in a dark background and you have ample light.

One special note, you can not feel dust mites crawling on your skin and they do not bite.

The male dust mites have an average lifespan of 10-19 days, while female dust mites can live to up to 70 days. They reproduce at an alarming rate – a female dust mite can lay 60 to 100 eggs during the five weeks of its life. The most shocking thing, however, is the fact that these mites can produce about 2,000 pieces of excrement within their life spans.

These fecal matters are allergens to a lot of human beings and are considered the leading cause of many allergies and even asthma.

Interestingly, dust mites thrive in almost all kinds of weather. They are mostly found indoors where they can find plenty of food to survive. Dust mites particularly love warm and humid environments. They seem to find temperatures between 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 80 degrees Fahrenheit as the best place to populate. In homes where most of the time humidity is around 50-60%, dust mites enjoy areas like the bedroom and living room. According to studies, a mattress can typically hold about 100,000 to several million dust mites. This number is very alarming especially in households where there are people allergic to dust mite excrements.

An average human being, on the other hand, spends a third of his or her life in bed. And during all that sleeping or lounging around on the bed, he sheds dead skin that totals to about 1/5th of an ounce worth of dead skin every week. The dead skin serves as food for dust mites that live in warm and moist places – like beds. Apart from mattresses, dust mites also thrive in other warm, fluffy surroundings in the house such as pillows, couches, and carpets.

The dust mites themselves don’t exactly cause diseases or allergies. It is their waste products that humans are allergic too. A study revealed that about 10 % of people in the world are allergic to dust mite wastes and more and more people are acquiring allergies. Apart from asthma, house dust mite allergy can also cause symptoms like sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, itchiness, nasal stuffiness, and in more severe cases, eczema and respiratory problems.

It is very difficult to completely get rid of the dust mites from your homes because they are very small and almost invisible. However, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your family against dust mite allergies. We have a lot of tips to help you get rid of dust mites and shield your household from the harmful health risks they cause.

DHR