The Globe and Mail: Now I lay me down to... fungi

Uugh gross...

The Globe and Mail: Now I lay me down to... fungi: "It's not just your bed, it's an ecosystem, and a swampy one at that. New research has found that your pillow is home to millions of fungal spores from the bathroom, kitchen and other places where you might not want to rest your head.

It's well known that few people actually sleep alone: Most beds are home to thousands of microscopic dust mites, which produce so much excrement they can add a pound or two of weight to your mattress every year, by some estimates. Humans feed the mites by shedding dead skin, and add water from about 100 litres of sweat a year, says Ashley Woodcock, a researcher at the University of Manchester in England.

Still, he was surprised at both the amount and variety of fungi he found when he tested 10 pillows.

He and his colleagues found up to 16 species of fungi, including types normally found in bread and bathrooms, and a more worrisome species called Aspergillus fumigatus, which is the leading cause of death from infection in patients with leukemia and bone-marrow transplants.

'We really thought it was the kind of stuff you find on a bathroom wall in a damp house. To find it in the bed you sleep in is really a surprise,' said Dr. Woodcock, whose findings are to be published this week in the journal Allergy."