Dust mites are found almost everywhere, they live in beddings, mattresses, upholstered furniture, carpets, and curtains. Having dust mites in the home can seriously harm the health of people with allergies and asthma. How to eradicate dust mites in your house requires several steps such as regular dusting, reducing humidity at home, cleaning beds and washing pillows every week. These, however, will not completely eliminate dust mites in your house, as they will keep coming back, especially if the weather is right.
Outline of this article
- What are Dust Mites?
- How do I know if I have Dust Mites in the House?
- Typical Symptoms of a reaction Dust Mites
- Medicine and Natural Therapy for Allergy Sufferers
- How do I get rid of Dust Mites
- Life Cycle of Dust Mites
- How Airsteril Australia can help eradicate dust mites in the Home
- How does Airsteril help?
- Installation of Airsteril in the bedroom
What are Dust mites?
House Dust Mites (HDM) (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus) are prevalent but unwelcome guest in most homes, they are tiny creatures, about a quarter of a millimetre long. It is often not the mite itself but proteins in their droppings which case the dust mite allergy.
House dust mites are a microscopic bug that live on the dead skin cells that humans and their pets shed. The mites are mostly harmless to people and do not carry diseases, but they and their faeces can cause allergic reactions to humans, especially among asthmatics and allergy sufferers.
A major site of exposure to the house dust mite is the bed. As the allergen is heavy and must be disturbed to be airborne, in other words, you need to shake the sheets because they are burrowed deep within the fibres.
It is on the floor and in soft furnishings, not just the bedroom. So, just cleaning the bed will not stop them from moving to other rooms through-out the house.
How do I know if I have Dust Mites in the House?
Dust mites are close relatives of ticks and spiders and are too small to see without a microscope.
You may have more symptoms at night, when you are lying in a bed infested with dust mites.
Typical Symptoms of a reaction to Dust Mites
A dust mite allergy can range of mild to severe. An allergic reaction can be triggered by a range of other indoor allergens chich as fungi (mould) or animal dander. Eliminating the exact cause can be difficult.
Mild
A mild case may cause an occasional runny nose and watery eyes and sneezing.
Severe
In severe cases (chronic) resulting in persistent sneezing, cough, congestion, facial pressure, an eczema flare-up or severe asthma.
More serious outcomes
These bugs and their faecal matter can damage a person’s DNA, which can worsen the inflammation and lead to cell death if the DNA is not repaired.
Medicine and natural therapy for allergy sufferers
Traditional medications such as antihistamines and inhaled steroids, may provide short term control of the allergy or asthma symptoms caused by dust mites.
Immunotherapy, such as allergy shots and tablets, can change the body’s immune response to allergens. But this will not remove the root cause and finding them is tricky, because you can’t see them.
How do I get rid of Dust Mites in my House?
It is not just the dust mite you have to remove. There are hundreds of thousands of them lurking in your mattress, in your carpets and on the furniture. When people are talking about dust mites, they quite often also discuss cockroaches because they live quite well together.
Removing them from the bedroom will not eliminate them.
Some precautions to keep them at bay include washing all your sheets, bed coverings, pillow cases, etc in hot water once a week. Give the bed a good airing as often as possible.
Standard cleaning will not get rid of them.
The water needs to be very hot 130F to 140F – and water temperatures of 120F will kill a child. If your water is not hot enough, you may need to send the laundry to an external laundry facility.
Wash your pillows every week or put a dust proof cover on pillows and the mattress.
They will keep coming back, especially of the climate is right. In Australia, our climate is perfect for them to live and survive. They love moisture – so some climates are just perfect for them. There are lots of other critters you need to watch out for, but these are so tiny you cannot see them. Unlike cockroaches, where you can simply put out the baits and you can see them die.
This will be a continual process.
Don’t think you can kill them once and they are gone forever. When you move house, they will be there again.
So, how to Eradicate Dust Mites in your House? To eradicate Dust Mites in your house, you should seriously consider utilising one of Airsteril Australia’s air purification products, such as the unit specifically developed for bedrooms. The technology is based on 5 unique technologies that removes germs, bacteria and mould. Dust mites live off human skin scales and thrive in humid environments. It is not the mite itself but proteins in their droppings which cause the dust mite allergy. Surfaces and substrates treated with Airsteril become inhospitable environments for dust mites, causing almost total depletion of the food necessary for them to colonise in the area.
Life cycle of dust mites
Adult females lay about 40 to 80 eggs singly or in small groups of three to five. The life cycle from egg to adult is around one month. The adult will continue to live for one to three months.
The primary food source of dust mites consists of skin scales, also known as dander from humans and animals.
How Airsteril Australia can help eradicate dust mites in the Home
It is often not the mite itself but proteins in their droppings which cause the dust mite allergy. Each mite produces about 20 of these waste droppings every day and the droppings continue to cause allergic symptoms even after the mite has died.
Surfaces and substrates treated with Airsteril become inhospitable environments for dust mites, causing almost total depletion of the food source necessary for them to colonise the area.
While dust mites will always be present in most home environments and their ultimate eradication is difficult, recent independent laboratory tests on surfaces and substrates treated with Airsteril clearly show that dust mite populations were evacuated completely.
How does Airsteril work?
It is a very small unit that can be plugged into the wall. It is smaller than an air conditioner and makes much less noise. In fact the bedroom units are called our Airsilent Range. The magic happens inside the unit. There is a tiny amount of UV and ozone that is released inside the chamber and fresh air is released through the top of the unit.
Airsteril has not HEPA filters, so instead of removing particles out of the air, Airsteril removes the root cause. HEPA filters remove 0.3 microns from the air which gives 99.7% efficiency. Photocatalytic air purifiers are much more effective, they remove germs and bacteria from hard surfaces and kill the germs you cannot see. Airsteril requires an annual lamp change which costs about $150. It will also remove odours from the air, replacing it with clean air. So, there are no harsh chemicals being used and no perfumes sprayed to mask the smell… just clean, fresh air.
There are no perfumes to mask the air in these units, they simply blow out clean, fresh air. Within 1 hour, it has removed 98.11% of germs, bacteria, bad odours (including smoke and pollen) and within 24 hours it removes 99.99% of impurities.
Don’t turn the unit on and off.
It is most effective when the unit running is switched on 24/7 for maximum effect. You should also keep the windows and doors shut. When you open external doors and windows, you are letting the pollen in, which causes another problem for allergy and asthma sufferers.
While the allergy sufferer is sleeping, they are releasing more dead skin cells and the next day, the covers should be removed from the bed to expose the mattress, where the dust mites are living. Remember, they don’t disappear forever, you need to keep removing their food and their droppings. 100’s of thousands of dust mites live inside mattresses and in carpets. Airsteril is constantly cleaning your mattress and carpets, but not it covered up with bed coverings and pillow cases. While the person affected is not sleeping, Airsteril continues to kill the new encumbants
Installation of Airsteril in the bedroom
Place the unit on the wall, vertically and make sure there is room for air to circulate around the unit at the top and bottom. It needs to be placed out of reach from people and away from doors and windows. It is best to ensure the unit is not facing a window or a door because all the natural clean air it produces. The clean air will be blown outside as soon as you open and shut windows and doors. The proper Airsteril installation is a proven way to address the question of how to eradicate Dust Mites in your house.
