★★☆Fabric Fights Dust Mites in Your Bed

*Teachers will divide the article into 2-3 paragraphs to help you understand and check the pronunciation of the difficult words.

Vocabulary

*Read the words carefully.

1. allergy/ˈælɚʤi/(n.)

a medical condition that causes someone to become sick after eating, touching, or breathing something that is harmless to most people

2. asthma/ˈæzmə/(v.)

a physical condition that makes it difficult for someone to breathe

3. enzyme /ˈɛnˌzaɪm/ (n.)

a chemical substance in animals and plants that helps to cause natural processes

4. coughing /ˈkɑːf/ (v.)

forcing air through your throat with a short, loud noise

5. fabric /ˈfæbrɪk/ (adj.)

a piece of cloth or textile

Article

Fabric Fights Dust Mites in Your Bed

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(1) Many people around the world suffer from dust-related allergies. People with allergies have trouble breathing or suffer from tightness in the chest and shortness of breath.

(2) Most allergies result mainly from very small creatures called dust mites. Dust mites live in bedding

(3) Now, scientists in Poland say they have successfully tested cloth that the microscopic creatures cannot pass through.

(4) Most of us share our beds with thousands of dust mites. Each mite is just one-third of a millimeter wide.

(5) Along with dust around the home, we breathe in waste from these creatures. Mite droppings contain enzymes called proteases. Enzymes produce chemical reactions in the body. Proteases can cause allergic reactions like breathlessness, coughing or severe asthma attacks.

(6) Dust mites are hard to remove because they can easily pass through small openings in bedding. But that is not the case with the new fabric developed at the Medical University of Lodz in Poland. The fabric stops the mites, but it still lets air pass through the material.

(7) Allergy sufferers who tested the cloth say the allergic symptoms were reduced up to 70 percent. They told the researchers that they can finally sleep normally. Up until now, they could not even lie in their beds because they suffered from asthma attacks, and also had trouble breathing and watery eyes.

(8) Researchers say repeated washing did not reduce the anti-allergic quality of the new fabric. They expect that after additional testing, it will be ready for the market.

(9) For now, dust allergy sufferers are advised to keep their homes dry, clean up floors often and wash their bedding in hot water.

Discussion

*Let’s talk about the article base on the questions below

1. Do you have allergies or asthma? What is the usual cause of your allergies?
2. How do you keep your family or yourself away from allergies?
3. What do you think about this new technology?

Tags: Health, lifestyle, parenthood, people

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