Can bird mites be transferred on clothing or luggage?

[Jessica44]

Hello.

My brother currently has bird mites in his home. I was planning to visit him in two weeks. If he doesn’t eradicate them by the time of my visit, do I need to be concerned about transferring the bird mites into my own home via clothing and luggage?

Thank you for your assistance.

Jessica

[CNDNGirl]

Yes. I would be worried about that. Although BMs typically favour 1 host, you don’t want to risk exposure and carrying them back to your place, where then, by default, you would become the new host.

If you decide to visit, ensure that you follow strict protocol: showering daily with tea tree/essential oils, always putting on “clean” clothing that has been through the treated wash and/or dried on high for 30 minutes, bag up everything, and spray down all your things before you leave.

When I recently left my parents’ house after Christmas break (where they’ve been struggling with a minor infestation of BMs for months), I was extremely diligent: I Lysol & enzyme sprayed my luggage outside, kept it outside on my deck on a tarp, dried in dryer/froze in deep freezer everything I brought or wiped it down with Lysol and then brought it immediately outside into my luggage. Since I’ve been back at my place, I’ve been following a strict cleaning/bathing protocol as I’m worried I may have brought them back (I started getting bitten while at my parents).

All that to say – typically BMs favour one or two hosts that they’ve been feeding on for a while; however, nothing’s to say that you won’t be bitten or won’t inadvertently transfer them home. They’re near impossible to spot, so there’s no way to completely know whether you’re free of them or not upon leaving an infested house. Since they are usually active at night, best case scenario (if money allows) is to stay in a nearby hotel, follow the showering/laundering protocol outlined through various people on this website, and don’t sit on cloth/upholstered furniture at his house.

[Margles1]

I have moved away from home to a hotel and I have brought some mites with me. I thought I was so careful!
I am thinking of having friends help me by having new clothes for me delivered to their own houses and bringing them to a few different hotels. At each hotel I would shower and scrub thoroughly and move on to the next place in brand new clothes.
Is this at all possible, does anyone think?

[Author]

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