As you lie on your pillow at night, you could be sleeping with the enemy.
“Somewhere around 85 percent of homes will have detectable dust mites,” Dr. Darryl Zeldin, clinical director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, said.
Dust mites may be microscopic, but the health problems they cause for some people — such as asthma and allergies — can seem larger than life.
Dust mites are microscopic arachnids that live in mattresses, pillows, rugs, upholstered furniture and curtains. But people aren’t allergic to the mite itself, it’s actually their excrement, and scientists say 18 to 30 percent of Americans are sensitive to it.
