They are small but many, and thrive best in warm and perhaps slightly damp places. Your bed is therefore one of the favorite places for mites. A little crab that most of us don’t want to share a bed with. – There are quite a few people in Norway who are allergic to mites. Up to 14 per cent of everyone in Norway reacts to house dust mites, says Helle Grøttum, who is head of department for asthma and allergies at LHL. Symptoms of a mite allergy are a stuffy and runny nose, especially at night. Allergic eye reactions and atopic eczema can also occur. The rescue could then be the predicted cold wave from Siberia. Because if there’s one thing the little crawlers don’t like, it’s the cold. Small and unwanted. We would prefer to get rid of the bed mite, or dust mite as it is called. Photo: Science Photo Library / Scanpix Air out the duvet and hang out the bedclothes – Mites die at minus 17 degrees, and then you can kill “bed comforters” such as house dust mites, says Grøttum. It can be good news for those of us who worry about the minus degrees that are now approaching. On Veitastrond in the western municipality of Luster, it was below minus 30 degrees on Thursday morning. Although the meteorologists on Thursday went a long way in canceling the worst blast cold that had been reported, in the Oslo area it can still be down to minus 26, and inland parts of Austlandet can still get well below minus 30 degrees. Even if it doesn’t get that cold where you live, a walk in the cold can do wonders for your bedding. Helle Grøttum is head of department for asthma and allergy at LHL. Photo: LHL Asthma and allergies – Bedding and mattresses have always lost a little fresh air, and if you take them out now, you will in any case kill some of the mites. – If you want to be completely sure of getting the life egg, you have to go all the way down to minus 70. Then you need professional equipment. Cold or heat At Anticimex, they use the cold when they are out to help people who have had problems with bed bugs and other unwanted guests. – Then we have a machine that shoots out cold, so that we can freeze eggs and such that lie in the area around beds and such, says pest technician Frank Lien. Otherwise, he recommends adding, for example, duvets and pillows to the freezer for those who have the opportunity to do so. – Otherwise, it’s washing, 60 degrees in the washing machine. We use both, cold or heat in a beautiful combination, says Lien. Frank Lien, pest technician at Anticimex. Photo: Per Kristian Grimeland / news Bank the mattresses well afterwards When you have finished airing it can be a good idea to bank the mattresses and bedding well. – Then the dead mite falls down, plus the faeces from the mite, which is what triggers the allergies, says Grøttum. Bed mites or house dust mites, as they are actually called, live mainly on skin waste from humans. That’s why we find most of the species in bedding, mattresses and bed bases Tired of making the bed? Finally, a tip for those of us who think it’s a chore to make the bed every morning. You can now with a clear conscience drop that. – It’s advice young people like, laughs Grøttum. Leave the duvet turned up while you are at school or work, so that it is not so hot and damp in the bedding for longer than absolutely necessary. Then you remove the growth conditions for the mite.
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Throw the bed mite out into the winter cold – news Vestland
