"Now I lay me down to... fungi"

Ergo, I may never sleep again ...

from the Globe & Mail

It's not just your bed, it's an ecosystem, and a swampy one at that. New research has found that your pillow is home to millions of fungal spores from the bathroom, kitchen and other places where you might not want to rest your head.

It's well known that few people actually sleep alone: Most beds are home to thousands of microscopic dust mites, which produce so much excrement they can add a pound or two of weight to your mattress every year, by some estimates. Humans feed the mites by shedding dead skin, and add water from about 100 litres of sweat a year, says Ashley Woodcock, a researcher at the University of Manchester in England.

Still, he was surprised at both the amount and variety of fungi he found when he tested 10 pillows.

[...]

Pillows made from synthetic materials were worse than feather pillows, Dr. Woodcock said. That may be significant for parents of children with asthma, or for adults who suffer from the illness. Many have been advised for years to use synthetic pillows to lessen their exposure to dust mites and the mites' feces, he added. Many experts believe exposure to dust mites -- and their excrement -- is an important factor in the increasing rate of asthma in children.

But in an earlier and much larger study, involving pillows in 150 homes, Dr. Woodcock found that synthetic pillows had five times more dust-mite fecal material than feather pillows, which usually are encased in tightly woven fabrics to keep in the feathers.

He noted that the kind of bedding people use has changed dramatically over the past 20 to 30 years. In many homes, blankets, which can be washed, have been replaced by comforters made from synthetic materials, which make people sweat more and can be harder to wash.

[...]

"Well, it is a feral soup, isn't it? It is an ideal culture medium for fungi." At least fungi and dust mites don't bite. Bedbugs are making a comeback around the world, including in North America and Europe. Toronto and Vancouver are coping with infestations that have hit apartments, single-family homes, hotels and homeless shelters. Some pest-control companies report a 500-per-cent increase in calls about bedbugs over the past year. The bugs feed on human blood, and their bites can turn into itchy welts and become infected.

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