Sound Machine That Will Zap Dust Mites

Mar 27, 06:30 PM

Current Headlines: SCIENTISTS have found a novel way of eliminating dust mites that are responsible for trigger allergies in millions of people.

They have developed a tiny device that emits ultrasound waves into a room, causing the microscopic creatures to die.

The breakthrough was discovered by a team developing a way to tackle malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

Using ultrasound on the mosquitoes was only partially effective, but researchers who suffered from dust allergies started to report an improvement in their symptoms while testing the equipment.

Irish company Drontek then switched its research to finding out if the high-level sound waves were killing the dust mites.

People with conditions such as hay fever and asthma are extremely susceptible to dust mites, which feed on shed human skin and are most prolific in the bedroom. The mites' faeces, which contain the allergen, are breathed in causing shortness of breath and wheezing in allergy sufferers.

When they were exposed to ultrasound, mite numbers fell by several hundred thousand about 20 per cent - in less than a month. After six months they reduced by 60 per cent.

'We don't think the ultrasound is killing them but we think that the sound waves are putting them off their food, which has a knock- on effect on their sex lives, meaning that fewer are born,' says John Power, of Drontek.

'In most bedrooms there are many millions of dust mites, so if you can get the colony down to just a few thousand that can have an enormous impact on patients with conditions such as asthma.' Around one in three of the population is affected by allergies at some point - many directly attributed to the dust mite.

DUST Mite Controller, Pounds 49.95, from www.tower-health.co.uk or 08450 066 077

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