Time To Buy New Pillows!
Apparently, we've got lots of company -- we're sleeping on it. Yes, our pillows are probably "hot beds of fungal spores." According to the University of Manchester's Professor Ashley Woodcock (apparently a leader in pillow fungus research):
We know that pillows are inhabited by the house dust mite which eats fungi, and one theory is that the fungi are in turn using the house dust mites' faeces as a major source of nitrogen and nutrition (along with human skin scales). There could therefore be a 'miniature ecosystem' at work inside our pillows.
Race you to Bed, Bath & Beyond?
If you really care, the solution isn't to replace your pillows;
it's to get dust mite proof pillow cases. They're readily
available.
If you care about the pillows, you'd probably want to also get
the dust mite proof mattress covers, also. That's what people who
are allergic to dust mites do.
Ron at February 3, 2006 12:27 PM
Do dust-mite-free pillow cases come with any weird risks or side effects?
I'll never forget my old microbiology textbook and all the micro-photographs of dust mites and helminths and other monstrous morsels of disgust. I didn't lie down on the carpet for weeks afterward.
Lena and the Damn Spots at February 3, 2006 12:56 PM
They're available as cotton/polyester cases. If your existing
cotton/polyester cases aren't risky, these shouldn't be. The
only big difference is that the mite-proof cases limit the pore
size in the material to under around 5 microns.
I've never heard of any side effects.
Ron at February 3, 2006 1:18 PM
I take the Homer Simpson approach....
MMMMmmmmmmm...... dust mites.
eric at February 3, 2006 10:52 PM
Of course there's a miniature ecosystem there. Just as there is in "your" body. You do know about eyelash mites, skin and gut bacteria, don't you? You are a walking ecosystem. Get used to it. Start to say "we" instead of "I".
These creatures look horrific in an electron micrograph. If that worries you, don't micrograph 'em. They and you have evolved together, and if you kill them off, you may find you needed them.
This is not "lets cheer for parasites" - but these guys are not parasites, they're symbionts or comensals or something.
Norman at February 4, 2006 1:01 AM
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