When Virginia Meehan saw the cleaning job Jose Siandre did on her mattress, she was shocked.

&uot;I was appalled when I saw the dust he got off the mattress,&uot; she said. &uot;I always considered myself a very clean person. I didn’t know so much dust could accumulate until I saw it.&uot;

That’s a reaction that Siandre, owner of Mitex Inc., a mattress and carpet cleaning service, hears often.

&uot;There’s debris embedded in every mattress,&uot; said Siandre. &uot;There’s dirt, skin flakes and dust mites that you can’t see with the naked eye.

&uot;It doesn’t mean the people are dirty. We all shed this stuff every night.&uot;

But Mitex can help clean it up, along with the host of health problems that the debris can create for people.

Siandre, who has operated a professional office cleaning franchise in Suffolk for two years, recently launched Mitex in Hampton Roads. He discovered the importance of such mattress and carpet cleaning after researching ways to help control his wife’s asthma.

Although cleaning dust mites and other allergens from mattresses has been commonplace in Europe for years, it is just now becoming popular in North America, Siandre said.

&uot;I got this from a distribution service in Canada,&uot; he said, indicating his cleaning equipment, which consists of a vacuum with a HEPA-filtration bag to prevent microbes and debris from escaping into the air and an alcohol-based spray that dries up any leftover bacteria.

First, Siandre goes over every inch of the bed with the vacuum. Along the way, he has to change the filters several times because of the debris removed.

After the mattress is cleaned with the vacuum, the spray temporarily stops the mites from reproducing. Then he flips the mattress over and does the other side.

&uot;My wife and I were pretty stunned,&uot; said Rudy McGwin, one of Siandre’s customers. &uot;Both she and I suffer from allergies. I thought this would help us, and it believe it has.

&uot;I think we’ve slept better, and when we wake up, we can breathe easier.&uot;

Another customer, Paula Garrett, who called Siandre because of her son’s allergies to dust mites, agreed. Although his bed had a mattress cover, the child still had difficulties sleeping.

&uot;He

(Siandre) explained that even though the mattress covered, dust mites could still come up from the bottom, which I had no idea of,&uot;

Garrett said. &uot;It’s like night and day.

&uot;I don’t hear my son in there sneezing. It’s made a big difference.&uot;

For more information, call 1-888-922-6600.

jason.norman@suffolknewsherald.com