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David is an occasional blogger, software engineer, Nintendo fanboy, liberal, news magazine addict, voracious TiVo user, and bibliophile. He was born in St. Louis, grew up in southern Indiana, and returned to St. Louis to attend Washington University. He hasn't managed to escape yet. He's a fan of free wine tastings, too many tv shows to name, and eating out. David makes his living developing web applications used internally by his employer. He doesn't blog about work because he's heard too many stories about that causing workplace troubles. There's more on the about page. |
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7 November 2005 - 7:00 pm
This is too good not to share, and because The Week doesn't post all their articles online, I'm just going to copy it out here for you.
Microscopic bed matesThis is from the "Health scare of the week" section of the November 11, 2005 edition of "The Week."
Before you put your head down on your pillow tonight, consider what's waiting for you there, says Newsday. A recent study at the University of Manchester in England sampled 150 pillows from different homes, and found millions of spores from up to 16 species of fungi in each one. "We really thought it was the kind of stuff you find on a bathroom wall in a damp house," says researcher Ashley Woodcock. "To find it in the bed you sleep in is really a surprise." The fungi were the type usually found in wet environments; Woodcock thinks they're attracted to the moisture produced by nighttime sweating, which can total 100 liters per person per year. And fungi are only half of what's living in pillows and beds. Thousands of dust mites also find a comfortable home in bedding; studies have shown that the average mattress gains a pound of two a year in feces excreted by dust mites, which eat the dead skin cells shed by sleepers. "You have a zoo in there," Woodcock says. Generally, the bed's tiny inhabitants pose no risk to healthy people, but for those with asthma or compromised immune systems the fungi can be life-threatening. Woodcock recommends washing bedclothes regularly in hot water and using feather pillows instead of synthetic ones.
Posted by on 7 November 2005 at 6:49 PM
Comments
Our culture's excessive germ phobia is truly unhealthy. Particularly for small children; they really should be exposed to all these sorts of non-dangerous bugs in order to give them a healthy immune system. Of course, I'm only informed enough to have a dangerous opinion.
Posted by Charlie on 8 November 2005 - 12:15 PM
I'm not so worried about the fungi. Even the article didn't seem too worried about the health effects of exposure -- the scientist mostly expressed surprise at what she found.
On the other hand, I am concerned about my mattress accumulating a pounds worth of dust mite feces every year. Have you ever seen a dust mite? They're scary looking critters.
Posted by david on 9 November 2005 - 9:18 AM
I have! There's a biologist in our School of Public Health who excitedly showed me some in some yeast. She was describing the different characteristics the males and females have, and in a thick accent (she's from India), she said, "Do you see the two that are moving together? They are, how do I say this, making love." That was a good appetite-suppressant that day.
And then she described how she always feels worse putting dust mites to death than mice. She's a brilliant woman, but man is she crazy.
Posted by Rachel on 11 November 2005 - 3:50 PM