With more and more children filling up creches, it may be time for parents to consider some necessary precautions, warns Avin Levy, MD for Germophobe Laboratories - a pharmaceutical company, specialising in the production of safe, non-toxic product ranges for the alleviation of dust mite, bed bug and pet allergies.
“Creches have recently been seeing an influx of youngsters, and this means more dander (skin flakes) and more moisture which dust mites thrive on,” says Levy.
Dust mites are one of the most common causes for asthmatic, respiratory and allergenic reactions in children in South Africa, with a recent study by The World Health Organization (WHO) showing that 25% of all preventable diseases are due to a poor physical environment and that over 40% of the global burden of disease attributed to environmental factors falls on children under 5 years of age. In addition, roughly 80% of all childhood asthma occurs before the age of five years and it is more common in boys. Boys are often more active than girls, causing more disruption of the dust mites habitat and releasing more allergens into the air. Approximately 50% of childhood asthma can go into remission during teenage years but up to 30% of these children go on to develop asthma during adulthood.
Dust mites cause the majority of problems in the bed and sleeping areas, where they infest bedding and pillows. This is due to the fact that they feed off dead skin cells, which are most widespread in a toddlers sleeping areas due to the amount of time spent sleeping or lying down. While babies and toddlers are not necessarily allergic to the dust mites, what they are allergic to are the faecal particles that the mites excrete after eating dead skin cells. One dust mite can produce up to 2000 faecal particles in its lifecycle.
Children diagnosed by doctors for hay fever or allergic rhinitis tripled between the early 1970s and early 1990s. “However, dust mites affecting a toddlers health may not only be thriving in their creches but in their beds and cots at home, causing breathing problems, allergies and other ailments,” says Levy. “The scary thing is that some parents may not even be aware that their children may be suffering symptoms from dust mite infestation.”
Even worse, this may be affecting babies before they’re even born. A study in 2000 done by Lancet highlighted that dust mite excrement inhaled by pregnant women when sleeping can reach the womb and amniotic fluid and could be a cause of asthma and allergies in up to 20% of new born babies. Furthermore, the American Centre for Disease Control reported that over a 14 year period, asthma rates in children under the age of five increased by more than 160%.
“The most crucial aspect to keep in mind with babies and toddlers is that exposure to dust mite allergens in the first year can develop into a lifelong allergy. Similarly even older children and in fact adults can form new allergies if over exposed to allergens,” says Levy.
Levy continues that knowledge of the problem combined with the right actions can lead to a dramatic change in the symptoms caused by dust mites. “Parents are often unaware that their children are sharing their bed with millions of dust mites that can lead to new, or severely aggravate already existing, respiratory problems. This is relatively easy to remedy through regular temperature controlled washing of bedding and by making use of products developed specifically for the treatment of the symptoms of dust mites.”
“This is precisely what Germophobe’s new MiteFree™ range of products have been developed to do in order to drastically reduce the allergic effects of dust mites on babies and toddlers, with a Dust Mite Spray as well as a Laundry Additive,” concludes Levy.