Thank you for giving me one more thing to worry about.

How likely is an allergic reaction and how severe can it be? I mean, during summer I frequently bike on dirt roads in the forest and regularly swallow much bigger insects. Beyond being a bit disgusting, I have never noticed and consequences of that. Besides, there are billions of mites in your bed, and you probably swallow quite a few when sleeping. The digestive system is made to protect you from getting sick, don't forget that. Also, compare with dogs that are pretty similar to humans in this respect: they eat a lot of stuff directly from the ground without getting sick.

@d-b I don't know how common such an allergic reaction is, but your anecdotes of you not having reactions to potential allergens are completely inane. Some people love nuts. Some people die if they touch one.

@d-b - dust mite allergies are very common: at least half of the USA population reacts to at least one of the 10 common dust mite allergens. That's not to say that they have a severe allergic reaction to them, but that their bodies are treating them as a foreign body. In addition the gut contains the highest concentration of antigen presenting dendritic cells - mediating the immune response is a huge thing for the gut!

@leftaroundabout I would say that basically none is severly allergic to mites. If you were, you would have to live in a bubble.

@curiousdannii You were carefully ignored the non-anecdote that there are billions of mites in your bed.

@leftaroundabout - the inanity comes from the fact that allergens are a problem - chronic enhanced immune responses to mite cause serious illness in a huge swathe of the population - Asthma (mites aren't the only trigger though). Yes, life would be boring if you tried to avoid everything allergenic - the warning is there in case someone gets ill - about 5% (1 person in 20) are allergic to flour mites in the general population - they may not know they are, but repeated exposure can result in (very rare) anaphylaxis and death. continued...

especially if the person is going to be stirring up the mites by sweeping out cupboards etc while cleaning - releasing allergens into the air, which then could trigger an allergic reaction or asthma attack. Long story short - if the warning isn't for you, ignore it, but don't blame me if something goes wrong and all of a sudden you or someone you live with is in a heap on the ground wheezing and unable to breathe.

@d-b - basically none - because they are dead (that's the result of severe allergy to common allergens) or on strong immuo-suppressive drugs!

@bob1 we're not criticising that you put out a warning, we're criticising that you don't put it in context of how common (in a sufficiently strong form that merits actually worrying about it) the allergy is in fact. Yeah you should be worried about allergies. You should perhaps also be worried about, say, radioactivity. But worry without sense for the probabilities is counterproductive.

The current xkcd is kind of relevant: xkcd.com/2282 and for the radiation example this one blog.xkcd.com/2011/03/19/radiation-chart

Are the mites nutritious?

@ReinstateMonica--notmaynard: Don’t worry about it if you are not allergic. Same for pantry moths.