Mite populations in sydney household bedding with particular reference to nursery sheepskins

Abstract

Samples of dust were collected from three articles of household bedding in twenty-two Sydney homes during a six-week period beginning in mid December, 1973. Mites, sometimes in large numbers, were found in all homes. The mean number of mites recovered from nursery sheepskins (all woollen) was thirteen times as high as the mean number from other forms of adult or infant bedding sampled. The high mean number in sheepskins is the result of massively high populations in seven of the eighteen skins sampled. Hospital sheepskins were almost almost uniformly mite free. Far fewer mites were collected from cot mattresses which were either vinyl topped or covered with a plastic coverslip than were collected from a cot mattress with a cotton top alone.