Steam Cleaning Eliminates Dust Mites in Homes

Allergy and asthma sufferers encounter a lot of environmental triggers that can make allergy symptoms miserable.  While they encounter many of those triggers outside of the home, the last thing they want is to have to deal with frustrating symptoms inside their own home.  Unfortunately, according the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America, approximately 20 million Americans have a dust mite allergy and all homes have dust mites.  Additionally, the AAFA provides a helpful description of what dust mites are and how they thrive in homes, “Mites are primitive creatures that have no developed respiratory system and no eyes. Too small to be seen with the naked eye, a dust mite measures about one quarter to one third of a millimeter. Under the microscope, they can be seen as whitish, eight-legged bugs…Dust mites thrive in temperatures of 68-77°F and relative humidity levels of 70-80%. There are at least 13 species of dust mites, all of which are well adapted to the environment inside the average home…Dust also contains many microscopic mites and their waste products.The waste products of dust mites — not the mites themselves — are what cause allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. Throughout its short life span, a single dust mite may produce as much as 200 times its body weight in waste products.”

So, if every home has dust mites does that just mean that allergy sufferers are doomed to taking medication and fighting frustrating symptoms? No!  While there are chemical treatments for dust mites, the far superior and safer treatment method is steam cleaning.  In fact, studies have shown that it is one of the best ways to safely eliminate dust mites for allergy and asthma sufferers, “(Study)A domestic steam cleaner was used to treat carpet squares that had been seeded in the laboratory with known numbers of dust mites (Dermatophagoidespteronyssinus). The number of live mites was monitored for a period of 4 months in eight treated carpet squares and eight controls…(Results) No live mites were found at any time in the treated carpet squares, whereas in the control squares geometric mean mite population density rose from 11 after 3 days to 39 after 1 month, 66 after 2, 122 after 3 and 185 after 4 months…(Conculsion) These data indicate that steam cleaning has considerable potential as an highly effective and efficient method of killing dust mites and reducing concentrations of Der p 1 in domestic premises.”
The use of chemical cleaning products and other pest control methods may have some ability to eliminate dust mites, but not nearly the same as steam cleaning.  Further, those methods often aggravate the symptoms of allergy and asthma sufferers while steam cleaning only uses water so it will not make symptoms worse.  The water is heated to such a high degree that it is capable of disinfecting up to 99% of bacteria and will effectively eliminate dust mites from surfaces in your home.  Steam cleaning really is the ultimate dust mite eliminate and home disinfection solution.