Do you consider your home to be a model of cleanliness? The floors sparkle, the linen breathes freshness, and the scent of cleaning products spreads throughout the apartment. Unfortunately, by neutralizing the dust and polishing the floors to a shine, you will not save your household from dangerous saprophyte mites that inhabit living quarters and are a powerful household allergen.
Saprophytes are parasitic mites that belong to the arthropod type of the arachnid family of the genus Acarida. Saprophytic mites live at home, feed on household dust and dead particles of keratinized human skin. These creatures are very fertile: for 4 months of their existence, they lay up to 300 eggs. Several thousand of these mites can live in 1 gram of household dust. Now imagine how many of them can accumulate in an ordinary apartment, given that, on average, about 40 kg of dust is formed in our houses per year? It is impossible to see saprophytic ticks with the naked eye, since they reach a length of 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm.
Living conditions of saprophytic ticks
Saprophyte mites reproduce very quickly in domestic conditions, especially in bedrooms, where it is moderately humid (60-80% humidity) and warm (20-25 degrees Celsius). Dust mites will always find their favorite treat here - particles of human skin. A person loses about 1.5 grams of keratinized skin per day, this figure increases to 2 kg per year. It turns out that people give saprophyte mites everything they need for their prosperous existence. Therefore, even after a thorough general cleaning, allergy sufferers may experience allergic attacks, because whole hordes of saprophytes have settled in pillows, blankets and mattresses.
Why are saprophytic ticks dangerous?
By themselves, dust mites are harmless because they do not bite people, spread infections, or interfere with sleep. The danger is posed by the feces of these tiny creatures, which are toxic and highly allergens. A single mite is capable of producing excrement 200 times its weight. Interacting with dust, which already accumulates many harmful substances and microbes, saprophytes pose a serious threat to human health. Just think about these numbers: 10% of earthlings suffer from allergies, 35-40 million people replenish the army of allergy sufferers every year, up to 85% of all allergic diseases occur on domestic soil, 5-6% of children in Russia suffer from bronchial asthma, 6-7% of cases bronchial asthma are fatal.
How to get rid of dust mites
Frost and sun will help get rid of harmful saprophyte mites. At low temperatures, ticks die very quickly, and direct sunlight also affects them. Therefore, pillows, blankets and mattresses should be taken outside or on the balcony from time to time so that they can take air and sun baths. While your pillows and blankets are lying in the cold or sunbathing in the sun, prepare a 20% sodium chloride solution and damp the room. Treat carpets and upholstered furniture with a steam cleaner. Collect bed linen, wash in hot water (saprophytes die at temperatures above 65 degrees Celsius) and iron thoroughly. Change mattresses every 8-10 years and pillows every 2-3 years.
