Dust mites. They’ve been climbing to the top of the trend health topics over the years and preventive products are popping up left and right. But what are these elusive critters? We know they’ve been linked to dust allergies through a multitude of highly scientific research studies. Okay, got that. But what are they? Can we see them? Are they more like an ant or a spider or a giraffe? Well after some research and digging through a stack of articles loaded down with complex biology terms, here is the low-down on the creature causing red itchy eyes and sniffles across the globe.

Amazingly enough, the dust mite is an extremely primitive creature that has been found in fossils over 28 million years old! Even more amazing, it is only about ¼ to 1/3 of a millimeter in length. Without the invention of the microscope, we’d never even know they were there. As a member of the arachnid order, the dust mite shares some relation to the spider with its 8 legs but that is about where the similarities end.

Dust mites are primitive to the point that they have no developed systems. That means no respiratory, digestive, and other various systems we take for granted. Somehow, without all these things, they do manage to enjoy a life span of 2 to 4 months simply moving, eating, and creating waste products. At some point during that awfully busy schedule they do find time to reproduce – the female lays an average of 100 eggs in her lifetime.

They have virtually no ‘native’ habitat and are found in ever continent besides Antarctica. While we can’t blame them for skipping over the icy tundra, there is a scientific reason they cannot survive there. Dust mites can live almost everywhere but they really thrive under certain temperature and humidity conditions. Ideally they’d prefer their habitats to range between 68°F and 77°F and have the humidity be 70%-80%. However, they’re able to live through everything but very low humidity and extreme temperatures. So penguins of Antarctica, rest assured that you will not have dust mite allergens. Now as for the rest of us in the world…

While they are not considered parasites, dust mites’ main food source is our skin. More precisely, the 1.5 grams of dead skin cells we naturally shed each day. That alone will feed around 1 million mites and there is not much we can do to control the shedding. Now how can these skin cell vacuum cleaners be considered a threat to our health and cause so much trouble?

Surprisingly the dust mites harm us through their waste products and decomposing bodies, not through their actual contact with us. Scientists have determined that there is a certain protein contained in their waste that sparks an allergy attack within humans, dogs, cats, and even birds. Over their short life time, dust mites will produce over 200 times their body weight in waste and then go on to die and have that same protein manifest itself in their decomposing bodies.

So dust mites will irritant our immune systems both in life and death. To put into perspective, a single mattress will have over 5 million dust mites living within. That’s over 5 million critters producing waste and creating baby mites over a 2-4 month span before they die. Then you have a new batch of mites doing the same thing while the old ones decompose and still manage to cause problems.

In summary: a dust mite is a globe-trotting tiny microscopic cousin of the spider that’s sole purpose in life is to create waste, die, and create the most common household allergen.

$500,000 to create only the first phase of a Death to Bed Bug campaign? Really New York City, come on. For anywhere between $36 and $63 you can control the problem fairly quickly. When mom said not to let the bed bugs bite, she wasn’t kidding. First, let’s look at what these critters are.

These parasites are usually linked to early 20th century problems but as travel increases, so do the infestations. Unfortunately, as time has passed, they have developed an immunity to most pesticides. They are about the size of an apple seed and live off human blood. Scary sounding? Probably. While they do leave red bumps on our skin and an intense itching sensation behind, they are not known to carry infectious diseases.

If you notice that you’re itching and have red welts on your skin when you wake up then you might have a case of the bugs. Look for spots of blood and black pepper-like flakes on your bedding. The spots of blood and excrement are further tall-tell signs. Don’t panic! There are easy steps (that don’t require a committee and $500,000 budget) to help rid yourself of this problem.

Invest in a textmattress encasing, textpillow encasings, and a box spring encasing if you have one. The important thing is these encasings MUST have a urethane membrane and self-locking zipper. Tests have shown that the bugs cannot chew through the membrane or escape from the zipper lock. In about a year or so, the parasites will die from lack of food source. The best thing is, most companies carry an array of fabrics, so you won’t have to sacrifice comfort (or your expensive mattress).

Strip all your bedding (sheets, pillow cases, comforters, blankets, etc) and wash them in HOT water. If possible, set your water heater to about 140℉ and boil them to death. It is important to wash your bedding once a week to prevent them from coming  back.

Clean your room thoroughly. Vacuum all surfaces, especially upholstered, and scrub, scrub, scrub. Once you’ve cleaned, bleached, and what not with the room simply maintain it.

With a little elbow grease and some smart bedding, you’ll be protected against bed bugs in no time. Just make sure you get those mattress encasings! I recommend the textAllergyStore brand. They have a great stretch-knit polyester fabric that is soft and doesn’t make a crinkly noise when you lay on it. Best of all, I hardly notice that it’s under my sheets and pillow cases.

River and lake fish used in feeding cats, can bring significant harm to the health of your pet. And all because of the fact that the fish can be a carrier of larvae of trematodes and tapeworms-cestodes.

The disease in cats develop severe chronic form. This is accompanied by indigestion, exhaustion cats, the deterioration of her general condition, may be vomiting, severe itching in the anus and other manifestations. Kittens with slowing growth and development, with strong infection that may result in the death of a baby as a result of bowel obstruction and general intoxication. If you do not take preventive measures and do not treat the cat, it will be a source of contamination of other animals and humans.
Small-trematode worms affect cats bile ducts of the liver, pancreas, stomach and small intestine. Treatment consists geksiholom or drontsitom, once mixed with minced meat after 6-hour fasting.

Cestode worms can reach several meters in length and live in the small intestine, and their larvae inhabit the body of fish, ruminants and humans.
Cats become infected by eating raw freshwater fish and internal organs of animals, as well as fleas and lice, which are also their intermediate host. Treatment of conduct fenasalom (fenalidolom) once, which is given in a mixture with food.

The disease is caused by toxocariasis roundworms-nematodes in length from a few millimeters to more than 10 centimeters. These mature forms found in the stomach and small intestine of cats and other animals, and their larvae develop in the external environment in the eggs, which, together with the feces shall be put out. Through feed and water contaminated with larvae of nematodes, cats become their bearers. In the body of cats become sexually mature nematodes.

Treatment of conduct piperazine, pyrantel, and dekariesom benzimidazolnymi drugs and other drugs on the appointment of a veterinarian.
As a preventive measure is necessary to comply with hygiene measures and take your cat’s feces to study the presence of egg worms at least 2 times a year, then on the recommendation of veterinarian to conduct de-worming cats.