Vacuum Dust under the Microscope 🔬
Ever wondered what your vacuum cleaner picks up?
I don’t know if I want to know, but here we go.
We pulled out our carpet in our bedroom about a year ago and installed floorboards. So I expect the dust collected in our vacuum cleaner to be less dirty considering there is no carpet for dirt and other nasty things like dust mites. We have a Dyson handheld vacuum, and I must say how amazed I was when I first purchased one.
Honestly I never knew what the hype was all about. I thought to myself why would you spend so much money on one? Until the day it was on sale and I became a proud owner of one. I vacuumed over a spot I had previously vacuumed with my old vacuum. I was shocked at the amount of fine dust it picked up through the carpet. It was crazy. I am so glad we got rid of the carpet now.
I remember someone once told me dust is comprised mainly from our dead skin.
But what are dust mites?
The dust mites are microorganisms living on the dust particles, and they eat mainly dead human skin cells. And considering that sloughed-off skin cells comprise about 70 percent of all household dust, we quickly begin to see how we're creating an environment in which dust mites can thrive freely... and begin to realize the hazards of not cleaning out our vacuums. Source
Oh my goodness. Reading about dust mites is scary. I thought I was allergic to dust but it turns out it is dust mite droppings that causes the allergy! Gross!
Considering they live up to 15 weeks, dust mites can produce up to 300 times their weight in bodily waste. Dust mites also lurk in bedding, drapes and feather pillows. Their by-products are so small that this excrement end up being part of the air in your house, which is one major cause of many typical allergic reactions. Source
Time for a spring clean anyone?
I also have an air purifier that I use every day which has a pre-filter, HEPA filter, carbon filter and UV globes. So the dust collected from my vacuum should be better right? Ok here it goes; here is the sample from my vacuum.
It doesn’t look too bad actually. I don’t see any dust mites moving around or their shell casing left behind. Or maybe I need to look harder or prepare a different sample. A fresh sample maybe? I did search up to check their size to see if they can be seen under the microscope and what they look like. They are about .2mm to .3mm long, but I couldn't find something with legs.
Oh what was that at the end of the gif, it looked like a piece of wing? But it is so tiny.
Here is a closer look. Is it a wing? It also looks like grass blade that has lost all its colouring. No idea. But it is tiny, I tried to look at it without the microscope and I could not see/find anything that resembles it.
It is not a wing from a dust mite because they don’t have wings.
What do you think?
We can also see a pink thread, most likely from my sleep wear because that is the only thing that pink I own. And I don’t own a lot of pink.
This is pretty cool. From what we learnt previously about hair, we can tell this is a cat hair and not human hair.
I noticed there are a lot of dark specs. Not sure what they are. But the light brown coloured ones I'm guessing that is Soju’s litter that she had tracked. We use wheat litter which is that colour, but I'm probably wrong, could be pollen too. Though I do wonder what the darker specs are. Are they dust mite droppings? Or eggs?!?! Oh Geez, I hope not.
For some reason after searching up on dust mites, I feel like I need to burn everything they could be found on.
All images and gifs belong to @supersoju
References:
What’s living inside your vacuum cleaner?
House dust mite
Fingers crossed they are not eggs, but best to get the fire going :-)
No need to burn. Sunlight kills dust mites so hang stuff up outside regularly, vaccuum frequently and you are good. I work in a bookshop and people walk in and say I love the smell of old books and I tend to respond: that's the smell of allergies in my world
I feel like I need an antihistamine after reading this post. We also own a Dyson vacuum and I am amazed what it takes out of the carpet on a daily bases. I am really allergic to what I thought was dust mites, but you just taught me its their droppings, thats even more disgusting.🤢
hahahaha not just their droppings but also their skin casing too that they cast off. It is pretty gross.
Yuck!
Do they only live in carpets? Everywhere here is tiled (cos of humidity), which I like better anyway cos carpet is gross when you start thinking about it. But I don't know what the impact on dust mites is.
Actually they love humidity. They don't just live in carpets, their other favourite places include our bed, pillow, curtains, soft toy, couch etc. You guessed it, anything with soft material, including clothes. I remember reading there is a suggested thread count to buy when you buy bed sheets. This is so they can't get into your pillow/doona/mattress.
From what I read, dust mites can't bite us. It is more due to their droppings and shell casing they take off that causes allergies and asthma. Worse for those with eczema. They like to eat human and pet skin that we shed. Considering they eat and poop a lot, this gets into the air we breathe.
I guess that is why it is important to vacuum (with HEPA filter if possible) and wash/change your linen regularly. I think I need to schedule in a big clean this week....
I knew they lived in beds. Seems like a good reason to have blinds though, not curtains. I think my pillows are allergen free ones, so they should be right. And I've never had a blanket on my bed since I moved to Panama, so I'm right there. Can't do much about the mattress since I'm in a share place, but once I buy a place I'll be getting an alergen free one (or as close to that as you can get). I don't get asthma or anything anyway, so I'm not overly affected, thank god.
The 'wing' looks like it's probably a piece of plant matter.
It does look more like a plant matter doesn't it. It looks like a monocot. But the thing is, it is really tiny. I just had a look at the slide again over a light source and I can't see it.
Oh my God. This is scary! I used to be allergic as a kid but haven't had symptoms for a while... For some reason I had no idea dust consists of dead skin cells :o going to do a scrub right now lmao
hahahaha now you know and you will think of it every time you see dust now lol sorry.
hahah yes :(