Worried About Having a Bad Duct Cleaning Experience?All About House Dust Mites and Allergies
Dust Mites and Allergies in the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin Areas of TN
Everyone should know about tiny dust mites that live in your air ducts, carpets, and many other places, and can cause allergy symptoms. Dust mites are so tiny that you cannot see them with the naked eye, and they live in household dust. The dust in your home is made up of tiny particles of hair, food, and skin that the dust mites live in and feed on. Abbreviated, HDM, home dust mites scientific name is dermatophagoides farinae. Dust mites are one of the leading causes of asthma. Dust mite larva have 6 legs and adults have 8 legs. Male dust mites have a 19-30 day lifespan. The females, who live twice as long as males, are the ones who lay the eggs.
Dust mites to not bite or sting. Generally dust mites live on the dust formed on shed human skin cells. A million dust mites can live for a year on the 0.3-0.45 kg of skin that the average human sheds. Because of the moisture you lose during the night from saliva and perspiration, your bed is the perfect home for dust mites. These dust mites living all around you can cause asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and dermatitis. The dust mites harm your body through the enzyme DerP1 that causes allergies and is in the mite's droppings.
Air duct systems trap a lot of dust, but not many mites live in them because the mites like a humid environment. Air ducts do carry a lot of skin, and other dust particles though. Home heating and cooling systems toss this rich dust mite food all over your house with their powerful fans. Not only does this bring the dust mites a steady stream of food particles, it also moves their allergy causing feces to be circulated around your home.
Below are a number of good ways to control dust mite populations:
- If you have a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter, you can use this to greatly reduce the food available to the mites.
- Dust your house regularly.
- Clean and sanitize bedding, upholstery, drapes, and linens regularly.
- By replacing your wall-to-wall carpeting with even just vinyl, you will make a big difference.
- Put allergen proof mattress covers on all of your beds.
- Protect your children by putting their stuffed animals in the freezer overnight.
- A good overall measure is to keep the humidity below 70% in your house.
Hopefully the above steps and information will help you have less allergies and illness.
Well, that concludes our dust mites article. Hopefully you have a better take on what the operation involves and what you might look for in an air duct cleaning company. Since most ductwork cleaning companies also clean dryer vents, you might want to read our dryer vent cleaning tips article as well. Having your dryer vent cleaned while the technicians are already at your home cleaning your air ducts, will save you money.
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