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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."
While the thought may be uncomfortable to many techies, people aren't sterile machines, and we don't live in sterile environments. You have more bacteria in your gut than you have cells in your body. Your body is full of persistent viral infection. There are fungi and parasites growing on your skin and in your hair. If you are a normal adult, your body has no trouble coping with it, and many of those microorganisms actually also have beneficial functions, not the least of which is to keep more harmful organisms from colonizing the same niches.
As for pillows, you clean them and air them regularly, and replace them every few years. And if you don't know how do deal with your household, you should marry someone who does.