< Go Back  Monster Mites  You've seen their ugly photographs on
TV and in newspapers and magazines. They loom several inches
tall, with eight crooked bony legs, a giant hard-shelled body,
short antennas and beady eyes. They infest your carpets, linens,
curtains, bedding and furniture. And when it's cold, they
hibernate in your mattress. They can make life miserable with
sneezing, wheezing and inflammation.  Dust mites.  These mites
are actually smaller than the period at the end of this
sentence. But, considering their significant health effects on
many allergic people, you realize they live up to their huge
appearance under a microscope.  What is the dust mite?  The
house dust mite is a ubiquitous animal belonging to the
arthropods, a group that includes such other annoying and
noxious animals as ticks, spiders, mosquitoes, flies and fleas.
The scientific name, Dermatophagoides species, suggests the
lifestyle of the house dust mite: It eats flakes of dead skin
and dander that fall from the bodies of humans a