I'm actually scared to click on that link.

gee whiz, I guess we should toss out our beds, blankets, and pillows and sleep on the ground.

I, for one, am thumbing my nose at our new fungal overlords and would wave my privates at their aunties if I had the appropriate genitalia.



/has allergy covers encasing her bedding

This was on Slashdot today, too. I thank God every single day that my fluffy pillows have not killed me yet.

Just watched "bug attack" on National Geographic last night. You should see the little mites that live in the pores of your face. You're not born with them, but most people get them from breast feeding on their mother, since the concentrations are very high around the nipples of the breasts.

/Oh, and what's for dinner?

Zipster: but most people get them from breast feeding on their mother, since the concentrations are very high around the nipples of the breasts.

"Thanks Mom!"

Zipster: but most people get them from breast feeding on their mother, since the concentrations are very high around the nipples of the breasts.


...I'll be damned. Girls really do have cooties.

Oh hell no. ick ick ick

/didn't RTFA, but I want to sleep tonight

Meh. The human race has survived so far with dirty pillows, I don't think this article is going to change that.

Anyone else getting Squee flashbacks?

Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

*jibblies*

Success ! This means that even Farkers don't sleep alone. Woohoo, where's my pillow ? Daddy's coming home !

Professor Woodcock

hahaha

The researchers took samples from ten pillows five feather and five synthetic which were between one and 20 years old.

Err...20 years old?! Seriously, WTF. I replace my pillows maybe every 6-9 months. Maybe a year. But 20?! You're just asking for a vile, disgusting sack of disease to sleep on.

Why do articles like this point out the problem without providing some hint of a solution? Can we nuke these things with Lysol Disinfectant spray or something?

//shiver
//gonna get some Lysol tomorrow!

Professor Woodcock said: 'Over the past 30 years our bedding has changed from feather-based pillows and blankets to synthetic pillows and duvets.


Woodcock, Ashley Woodcock

You should see the ecosystem that's thriving in my mis-matched sock!

Zipster: but most people get them from breast feeding on their mother, since the concentrations are very high around the nipples of the breasts.

That's why they call them "dirty pillows".

I can see your dirty pillows!!!

PANIC!!!

time for a trip to bed bath and beyond

/btw my 1st grade teacher was named Ms. Woodcock
//no joke

That's okay, now I don't feel so all alone.

What about the jizz on my pillow?

Is that bad?

/stuffin makes good lovin' baby!!

Not reading that one....

Glad I have allergy covers on my pillows/mattresses.

/I like living in oblivion.

i'm with the Boobieser -- i'm frightened to click on the link. not cos i don't know what's in it but cos i already do and it's just reminded me everything i try to forget when i read one of these artices cos i want to go to bed. son of a biatch.

I heard somewhere that 1/10th of the weight of your pillow was dust mites and other living creatures.

My question... why only 10 pillows? I would have thought researchers would have at least selected a larger sample size.

With my pillows, the last thing I worry about is fungi...I've done things I'm not proud of...

/yes i'm kidding

happydorkgirl: /has allergy covers encasing her bedding

I had no idea there was such a thing!

I'm gonna have to get myself some of that.

Ok, so you go and get a new pillow or wash it. Wouldn't the fungus and dust mites just come back soon anyway?

"Dust mites feed on dead skin and dried sweat"

Wonderful.

Quick! We either need to blame Bush for this or whip out the Birkenstocks and hold a protest to Save the Pillow Ecosystem from his policies!!!

Can I be the first to say that I, for one, would like to welcome our pillow-dwelling fungus overlords??

/wheee.

I'd like to welcome all the people panicking over this to a little place I like to call "reality".

Allergy covers + washing sheets/pillowcases a lot = safe from dust mites and fungi. Wait, where are my pillow allergy covers? Crap.

Is this anything to be at all worried about? No, not in the least.

Will it be a little harder for me to sleep tonight? Yup.

/it's not the logic part of the brain, it's the "eegh" part of the brain.

So that's why it itches.

"I replace my pillows maybe every 6-9 months. Maybe a year. But 20?! You're just asking for a vile, disgusting sack of disease to sleep on."
There is this miraculous device called a pillow case, you're supposed to wash it when your head gets the case grody.
But if you're putting your head on synthetic padding, no wonder its vile....
I've got a wonderful feather pillow, broke in just right, and no, you aint gettin it....

Seriously, you know why the fungi and dust mites are there? To clean up. If it weren't for them, things would be nasty. It's not like they're attacking you, they're just picking up your garbage. You have similar species living on you, despite how many showers a day you take (or because of the lack thereof).

For example, there's Demodex folliculorum, which likes to hang out on facial follices, especially around the eyelashes.

Isn't he cute?


As many as 25 have been found in a single follicle. This lucky follice only has three. (Those are their asses sticking out)


You, me, and every hot girl you ever looked at has these little bastards on them, along with a whole zooful of their little friends. Get used to it.

Sigh. One more "health crisis" dreamed up by a so-called not-for-profit Foundation sponsored by industry. The brains behind the poison pillow scare are drugs companies, including those specialising in anti-fungal treatments. Check it out.

This is just marketing of a particularly nasty kind. No doubt there is lobbying going to to "ban unclean pillows", meaning mandatory use of expensive fungicides.

The report is utter and complete hogwash, talking about fungal infections suffered by (e.g.) lukemia patients who have no immunity as if these were typical. Truth is the human body is teeming with fungal and bacterial and viral lifeforms and most of the time, the balance works just fine. Yes, we're a walking buffet. No, it's not a problem. We are *ecosystems*. Mess with this and the result is almost always much worse.

I sold Kirby vaccuums for a short while when I was waiting for another job to come through. This is absolutely true. When we'd show off the Kirby, we'd suck up all the shiat from someone's pillow- usually about a coffee mug worth of skin cells would come out. Mattresses are worse. It's really disgusting.

Always got them, eh? When I worked there for that month, three people took them and vanished. People in half-decent houses too. The houses were for sale and cleaned out when they missed payments and we went back to pick 'em up.

The owner and managers got taken away for coccaine.

WHEN I GO TO BED AT NIGHT THE FUNGUS EAT ME.

I've been sleeping on a bed with a pillow for almost 24 years. I dont think I'm dying. Sometimes, people benefit from ignorance.

Have no fear!

The problem of fungus and mites of every kind will be completely solved in 2012. That is the year when nano-bots, built to eliminate pathogens, parasites, and fungal infections of any kind, will truly go into wide-spread use. They'll be everywhere - on your clothes, on your bed, and inside your body - but, unlike those filthy parasites, they'll be completely benign, and programmed to dissintegrate after a certain span of time.

Truly, the next few years will be a paradise of clean air and perfect health.

Unfortunately, in 2016, in the month of august, the Nano-mites will gain self-awareness. At that point, that shall rename themselves "The Swarm", devour all life on our planet, and shoot off into space to purge the universe of all organic imperfection.

It might sound bad, but it really isn't - they will eventually encounter a far older multi-planetary Swarm bent on universal destruction that originated in a neighboring Galaxy, and will be quickly overpowered.

This is just the thing for my insomnia...

Out of sight, out of mind.

We don't need no stinking bastards telling us what they look like or what they do, or how many of them are living on ya freaking face, thank you.


/we should have a friendlier replacement name for 'parasites'
//'bugglie wugglies'?

crossbuster Professor Woodcock... heh

Beat me to it...

I've seen house-cleaning advertisements with pictures of magnified dust mites for years. Why haven't we all died already from this insidious threat? OMG! The sky is falling!

</sarcasm>

/used same pillow for at least 15 years. only have about 10 years on current pillow... I'm still alive, last I checked. Healthy, too.

What about the millions of organisms living in my sweet balls?

/who cares, everything's covered in bacteria
//we're the bacteria covering the Earth