{"id":8537,"date":"2005-10-17T13:32:22","date_gmt":"2005-10-17T20:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/10\/17\/in-case-you-didnt-have-something-to-keep-you-awake-at-night.html"},"modified":"2005-10-17T13:32:22","modified_gmt":"2005-10-17T20:32:22","slug":"in_case_you_did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/10\/17\/in_case_you_did.html","title":{"rendered":"In case you didn’t have something to keep you awake at night …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your pillow is a marvelous ecosystem of dust mites and killer fungus<\/a>. Yay!<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Aspergillus fumigatus<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

How fun. Synthetic pillows seem to be more of a good fungal environment than feather ones.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

[…] 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.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

Sleep tight! Breathe deeply …<\/p>\n

(via J-Walk<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your pillow is a marvelous ecosystem of dust mites and killer fungus. Yay! Researchers at The University of Manchester funded by the Fungal Research Trust have discovered millions of fungal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44039,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/01\/electricity-in-bed-is-not-your-friend.html","url_meta":{"origin":8537,"position":0},"title":"Electricity in bed is not your friend","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 1-Aug-14 8:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"The headline of the story is not quite accurate -- it appears that the teen in question was electrocuted by a faulty charger plugged into her iPhone under her pillow. \u00a0Which, yeah, neither should be there, but only one is actually connected to the electrical outlet in the wall.(h\/t +steph\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":974,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/10\/29\/its_everywhere.html","url_meta":{"origin":8537,"position":1},"title":"It’s everywhere, y’know!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 29-Oct-01 9:23am","format":false,"excerpt":"InstaPundit notes that anthrax spores occur in nature, as any rancher knows. How sensitive is the testing they are doing on post offices, etc.? What's the possibility\/probability that they are...","rel":"","context":"In "Homeland Security"","block_context":{"text":"Homeland Security","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/homeland-security"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10539,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/12\/24\/you_have_arrived.html","url_meta":{"origin":8537,"position":2},"title":"“You have arrived.”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 24-Dec-06 4:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"Nineteen hours on the dot, but we made it! Night, everyone! UPDATE: Turn-down service by Jim and Ginger, complete with mints on the pillows. this post enabled by airblogging.com....","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/\/images\/802b7b88ea.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12056,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/11\/29\/aaahhhh_pillows.html","url_meta":{"origin":8537,"position":3},"title":"Aaahhhh … Pillows …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 29-Nov-07 11:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"An overnight stay at the LAX Hilton....","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/11\/29\/aaahhhh_pillows.html#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2070\/2075555160_48a65f7a03.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21023,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/05\/12\/unblogged-bits-thu-12-may-11-1730.html","url_meta":{"origin":8537,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Thu. 12-May-11 1730)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 12-May-11 5:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... \u2018Conan the Barbarian\u2019 Trailer - Okay, that looks pretty epic. The Cat's Eye Nebula from Hubble - Oooooooh ... New \u2018X-Men First Class\u2019 Clip: \u2018Magic Trick,\u2019 Plus Four New TV Spots - That's pretty\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34996,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/24\/cork-vs-synthetic-vs-screw-top.html","url_meta":{"origin":8537,"position":5},"title":"Cork vs Synthetic vs Screw Top","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-May-13 2:53pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The arguments over the different tops tend to get fairly esoteric near the edges (are cork farms damaging to the ecology? does the slight seep of oxygen past cork helpful? are people killing themselves with corkscrews and foil knives?). 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