I, like many others, clean around this time each year. But when I told Dr. Kathleen May, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, that one of my favorite pastimes is thoroughly washing all of my bedding, she said something that will haunt me forever. “If your blanket has been sitting on a bed all winter, it may be loaded with dust mites,” Dr. May said. “If you shake it, the dust mites are going to be airborne for one to two hours.”She added that airborne dust mites, while gross, are a problem only for people who are allergic to them. Dr. May’s tidbit made me think beyond the usual spring-cleaning tasks.

Source: New York Times April 21, 2023 10:32 UTC