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Clothing fabrics impact transfer of house dust mites

The type of clothing fabric a person wears contributed to the transfer of house dust mites from one location to another, according to study results.

When compared with plain woven cotton and denim, fleece exhibited the highest transfer rate of both dead and live dust mites.

David Clarke, BSc, of the National University of Ireland, and colleagues, seeded 480 samples of car seat material with dust mites and exposed them to contact with plain woven cotton, denim and fleece. Each fabric was subjected to contact with the car seat material under two different forces and for two different time periods. To mimic the weight of a child and an adult, the force during the contact was 50 Newtons and 75 Newtons; the time periods were 3 seconds and 20 minutes.

The researchers reported that fleece contributed most to the transfer of dead (17.8%) and live (13.1%) mites. By comparison, the transfer rates for dead and live mites was 11.7% and 8.1%, respectively, for denim, and 9.4% and 9.2% for the cotton.

The researchers also indicated there was a difference between the number of mites transferred between the applied forces, with more mites being transferred during the greater force.

The investigators said study limitations included the setting. In natural settings, they wrote, dust mite populations can vary because of factors such as relative humidity and food availability. Another limitation was the choice of fabrics used.

“Although three constituents of modern clothing were examined, other synthetic and natural clothing fabrics, such as nylon and wool, were not, which leaves scope for investigation in future studies,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.