Next I got in touch with a bunch of bug, allergy, and dust-mite experts, some of whom had been quoted in the Wall Street Journal article. Unsurprisingly, all dismissed the idea that there were mounds of mites in mattresses. I don't know where that originated. They're not that prolific. I don't believe it.
Extrapolation can be a funny thing.
You'll remember the column I did extrapolating from the reproduction rate of houseflies, in which I concluded that if Joe Letter Writer hadn't swatted a bunch one day, they'd have reproduced ad infinitum and filled up all the space in the universe. So extrapolations are something you want to take with a grain of salt. Because there's a buck in it. Most people aren't allergic, but what the heck, if the hucksters can scare the pants off you, maybe you'll buy all that stuff anyway. Three weeks later he became severely jaundiced and died shortly after when his kidneys collapsed.