As the parent of a child with asthma, you desperately worry about whether or not something is going to trigger an asthma attack in your son or daughter. The ability to breathe is the one thing you hope you will never have to worry about and the thing most people take for granted. It is so important if your child does have this illness that you take every precaution that you can to lessen the chance of having an asthma attack. As a solution to the growing number of children afflicted with this illness, the EPA has formed an asthma education program. The purpose of this program is to inform the public about the indoor and outdoor triggers of asthma. Even though there is not yet a cure for asthma, the government is hoping to reduce the severity of the sufferers by helping people manage the environmental triggers. Although there are more triggers, this article will address one of the most prevalent. One of the worst culprits for triggering an asthma attack is dust and dust mites. Many people aren\'t aware of what a dust mite actually is. A dust mite is a microscopic insect, invisible to the naked eye and it comes from the spider family. Now don\'t panic, but every house has dust mites, it\'s impossible to free your house completely of dust mites, they live in mattresses, upholstery, curtains, and carpets. Body parts and feces that come from this insect can set off an asthma attack in kids with allergies to dust mites, and contact to dust mites can cause asthma in kids that have not previously shown any symptoms. Although removing dust mites completely is impossible, it is possible to make the home environment for a child with asthma much safer by drastically reducing the amount of dust mites in your home. Dr. Barbara Ogg of the University of Nebraska recommends that you take the following steps to reduce the amount of dust mites in your home: Keep the humidity levels in your home low, dust mites thrive in humid environments. This is much easier during the winter season than it is in the summer. There is really no way to control the humidity in the air in the summer without air conditioning. A dehumidifier can be very helpful to help keep the humidity levels in your home below 50 %. For carpets and upholstery, she recommends that you have your carpets and upholstery professionally cleaned at least once per year and for more severe cases, you should professionally clean your carpets and upholstery more frequently than that. In between cleanings make sure to vacuum carpets and upholstery thoroughly, it is important that you use a vacuum with a hepa filter on it. It\'s more advisable to vacuum twice a week thoroughly than every day lightly. You can also have your mattresses professionally cleaned and then cover them with dust proof zippered covers, and there are dust proof covers for pillows as well. Mattresses and pillows are one of the areas you will find the highest concentration of dust mites so these tips will help children with asthma drastically reduce the chances of an attack. In addition, make sure to keep stuffed animals off the bed and launder the sheets and blankets at least once per week in hot water. Although it is a lot of work to reduce the amount of dust mites in your home, it will improve the quality of life for any children who suffer from asthma. There are a few other environmental triggers that you should be concerned with besides dust mites. However, dust mites are the most common and can be found in every home so reducing the amount of dust mites will help to bring a little peace of mind for parents.
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