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Keywords: Non-clinical-image
A house dust mite is an eight-legged arachnid with a three-month life cycle of egg, larva, protonymph, tritonymph, and adult stages. The adult mite is transparent and 0.25-0.33 mm in length. The female lays 50–80 eggs during her lifetime. Each immature mite stage sheds a hard exoskeleton of chitin which is an aeroallergen, although the main allergens derive from the membrane encasing faecal pellets. The house dust mite feeds on skin scales, so increased numbers are found in association with humans with dermatoses that cause increased skin shedding.
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