Research shows that during one nights sleep most people toss and turn up to 60 or 70 times meaning the dust mite droppings are frequently expelled into the air from bedding. Researchers have also discovered that the allergens can then stay in the air for up to 2 hours. Once airborne, dried dust mite droppings are easily inhaled into our airways thus causing allergic reactions in asthmatics. These allergens can cause wheezing, coughs, itchy eyes, sniffles and, in more serious cases, asthma, eczema, and allergic rhinitis. The development of the house dust mite from an egg to an adult takes just three to four weeks.
Adults live for about six weeks, during which time the females produce forty to eighty eggs.
It is not the dust mite themselves that causes the problems the allergen which causes asthma attacks, allergies and eczema is actually a protein found in their droppings and their carcasses. Clinical studies have revealed that avoidance of Dust Mite allergens in early childhood can prevent the onset of asthma in adults.