Dust mites & Bed bugs

Bed bugs feed on human blood, extracting a meal by biting us with beak-like mouthparts that pierce our skin and suck up the blood. Dust mites do not attack us, but wait for flakes of dead skin to rain down from our scalps and bodies. The mites then chew up the dead skin cells.

Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius), while still small at 1.5-7 millimeters, are gargantuan compared to dust mites, which measure only about one-fourth of a millimeter. So, if you can see the creature with your naked eye, it is definitely not a dust mite. Other insects can be found in bed, too, such as the larvae and adults of carpet beetles, family Dermestidae. Carpet beetle larvae often feed on wool blankets.

Dust mites do not bite, but are the major cause of indoor allergies. The mites themselves do not produce symptoms, but a protein in their fecal pellets does cause asthma, or aggravates existing asthma symptoms. Dust mites can also cause eczema, a skin condition also known as “atopic dermatitis,” whereby the skin becomes dry, itchy, red and scaly.