Posted on 10/17/2005 3:26:05 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Researchers at The University of Manchester funded by the Fungal Research Trust have discovered millions of fungal spores right under our noses - in our pillows.
Aspergillus fumigatus, the species most commonly found in the pillows, is most likely to cause disease; and the resulting condition Aspergillosis has become the leading infectious cause of death in leukaemia and bone marrow transplant patients. Fungi also exacerbate asthma in adults.
The researchers dissected both feather and synthetic samples and identified several thousand spores of fungus per gram of used pillow - more than a million spores per pillow.
Fungal contamination of bedding was first studied in 1936, but there have been no reports in the last seventy years. For this new study, which was published online today in the scientific journal Allergy, the team studied samples from ten pillows with between 1.5 and 20 years of regular use.
Each pillow was found to contain a substantial fungal load, with four to 16 different species being identified per sample and even higher numbers found in synthetic pillows. The microscopic fungus Aspergillus fumigatus was particularly evident in synthetic pillows, and fungi as diverse as bread and vine moulds and those usually found on damp walls and in showers were also found.
Professor Ashley Woodcock who led the research said: "We know that pillows are inhabited by the house dust mite which eats fungi, and one theory is that the fungi are in turn using the house dust mites' faeces as a major source of nitrogen and nutrition (along with human skin scales). There could therefore be a 'miniature ecosystem' at work inside our pillows."
Aspergillus is a very common fungus, carried in the air as well as being found in cellars, household plant pots, compost, computers and ground pepper and spices.
Invasive Aspergillosis occurs mainly in the lungs and sinuses, although it can spread to other organs such as the brain, and is becoming increasingly common across other patient groups. It is very difficult to treat, and as many as 1 in 25 patients who die in modern European teaching hospitals have the disease.
Immuno-compromised patients such as transplantation, AIDS and steroid treatment patients are also frequently affected with life-threatening Aspergillus pneumonia and sinusitis. Fortunately, hospital pillows have plastic covers and so are unlikely to cause problems, but patients being discharged home - where pillows may be old and fungus-infected - could be at risk of infection.
Aspergillus can also worsen asthma, particularly in adults who have had asthma for many years, and cause allergic sinusitis in patients with allergic tendencies. Constant exposure to fungus in bed could be problematic. It can also get into the lung cavities created by tuberculosis which affects a third of the world's population, causing general ill-health and bleeding in the lung, as well as causing a range of plant and animal diseases.
Dr Geoffrey Scott, Chairman of the Fungal Research Trust which funded the study, said: "These new findings are potentially of major significance to people with allergic diseases of the lungs and damaged immune systems - especially those being sent home from hospital."
Professor Ashley Woodcock added: "Since patients spend a third of their life sleeping and breathing close to a potentially large and varied source of fungi, these findings certainly have important implications for patients with respiratory disease - especially asthma and sinusitis."
The same people who keep mattresses for 20 years..
Is this anything like the secret formula monosodium glutomate??
If our pillows are full of this crap, what's in our mattresses?
Oh NO??? Remember they aren't just filthy, they're
"We're All Gonna Die!!!!!!"
Still, I suppose you could get some of that stuff from
the drug store, you know where the label says,
APPLY LIBERALLY TO INFESTED AREA.
or should that be?
APPLY to LIBERAL INFESTED AREA?
How you you know?
Answer.......cause it's BLUE!
It's awful. This animated thing is running around someone's foot, then it lifts up the nail and hops into the bed. I feel like retching every time I see it.
King Vanity has a trach, suffers from lung spasms and asthema but NOT a history of infections in lungs or sinuses.
I change out his pillows daily do to his copious secretions and toss them in the washer w/bleach.
Perhaps in doing so along with my washing hands or wearing gloves and keeping his room wiped down with 10% bleach water has been the key to no infectious disease. Also change his bed pads 1-2 times daily and sheets every other day.
Yes I do ALOT of laundry.
TJ, if we can find anyone growing truffles on their pillow we'll have it MADE!
...looking to increase Christmas sales.
I hate to admit this, but my nutso father still sleeps on the same down pillows he received as wedding presents over FORTY years ago.
damn.
I already will NOT go into a hotel room.
I need a giant body condom.
ping to the article
MORELS!
Ha, did anyone notice that COMPUTERS are also identified as being welcoming environs for fungus?!?
That may well explain why there are so many people driven to madness or otherwise sickness on the internet.
WHERE are they IN the computers? Ha...I'm thinking the issue is probably more that fungus is ON computers, due to the welcoming plastics.
In which case, I use 409 on mine. Highly recommend it.
Pepper & spices? Sheesh. I have to replace all those too?
Hint- It ain't money.
;-)
TMI ... icky
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