25% of the European population suffers respiratory allergies, ranking them #4 chronic diseases by World Health Organisation.

An allergic reaction occurs when the immune system reacts to a normally harmless substance by making a specific antibody to fight it.

The most common allergens in homes are, house dust mites (58%); pet dander (45%), cleaning products (32%) and mold (31%). Allergy UK estimates there are at least 12 million people allergic to their own home, but as the symptoms are not obvious a lot of people do not realize they are allergic to their home (data Allergy UK 2012).

The most common symptoms are itchy eyes, sneezing and itchy skin.

According to the senior editor of “The Health” magazine Frances Largeman-Roth, the places which bacteria are more likely to be present are:

1. Your kitchen sink: Kitchen sinks are dirtier than most bathrooms. There are typically more than 500,000 bacteria per square inch in the drain alone.

2. Airplane bathrooms.

3. A load of wet laundry.

4. Public drinking fountains: Drinking fountains are bound to be germy, but school fountains are the worst, with anywhere from 62,000 to 2.7 million bacteria per square inch on the spigot.

5. Shopping cart handles.

6. ATM buttons.

7. Your handbag.

8. Playgrounds.

9. Mats and machines at health clubs.

10. Your bathtub: Shocking, but true: The place you go to get clean is quite dirty. A recent study found staphylococcus bacteria, a common cause of serious skin infections, in 26% of the tubs tested. Tubs typically had more than 100,000 bacteria per square inch! You’re washing germs and viruses off your body and the tub is a fairly moist environment, so bacteria can grow.

Bugs picked up at nursery and in the playground mean that those with young children suffer from more colds and viruses than those without and the average parent gets a cold an additional four times a year compared to someone without children. 

It also emerged that mums are also more likely to have to take time off work as a result with the average mum taking three sick days a year as well as 3 days off to take care of a sick child. 

More than half of parents admit to actively trying to avoid colleagues who come to work with a cold or flu symptoms as they worry about getting sick and passing it on to their children and families. 

The research showed that more than half of Brits complain they end up picking up the slack for colleagues who call in sick and nearly a quarter say of employees say that they think that colleagues have got annoyed with them for calling in sick. 

Most of us are on a day to day basis exposed to unpleasant odours such as tobacco smoke, strong cooking smell or even the smell of a wet pet.

Thus it is getting more important every day to purify our indoor air; this is what we do at Aerte.