Slashdot Mirror
Pillows Dangerous for Your Health
Roland Piquepaille writes "I guess we shouldn't be surprised by the fact that our pillows are miniature zoos containing millions of fungal spores, with some species able to cause diseases and even death. Researchers at the University of Manchester have studied the fungal contamination of our pillows for the first time in seventy years and discovered that these pillows were hot beds of fungal spores. After dissecting both feather and synthetic pillows in regular use between several months and 20 years, they've "identified several thousand spores of fungus per gram of used pillow -- more than a million spores per pillow."
What's the deal with the ratcheting up of thread counts lately? I go into Bed Bath and Beyond or some other consumer hell and even the off-brand junk is advertising 1000-2000 threads. It's silly because most of those fabrics are still junk, but junk with a lot of threads. Personally, after going through two expensive sets of name-brand, high-thread bedding that hardly lasted 3 years, I bought a set from a hotel supplier. They don't specify it, but if I had to guess, I'd say the thread count is 250 or so. They feel great and are like-new after years of use.
As for bleach, try hanging your bedding in the sun. It works great and costs nothing.