SOUTHWEST, Fla -- Do you have allergies? Ever get hives or even food poisoning? Believe it or not--it could be coming from your pillow!

You will be tossing and turning after hearing what we found in a home, hotel and store bought pillow. It's an investigation that took four weeks, hundreds of dollars, and hundreds of miles across the state to a laboratory in Orlando. But the results and tips for your family were worth it.

Tiny organisms that look like something out of a science fiction movie could be shacking up in your home.

"They can feed off your dead cells," says Blanca Cortes of EMSL Laboratories.

Dr. Cortes knows all about what can be breeding in your bed that will freak out even the cleanest of clean freaks. She works for EMSL, a national environmental microbiology lab in Orlando.

"When you start investigating, you find they have mold, bacteria, mites and then they wonder why they have allergies why they are getting hives, different symptoms and a lot of the time they are just laying on them," says Cortes.

We took samples from a store bought, hotel, and home pillow and sent them off to Dr. Cortes. The home pillow was donated to us by the pike family from Fort Myers and Brent Pike knows a thing or two about cleaning.

"I used to have a cleaning business several years ago," says Pike.

The lab looked for mold, bacteria and allergens.

"These results were quite surprising to tell you the truth," says Cortes.

In the brand new store bought pillow, Cortes found basically nothing.
Just a few skin cells from handling.

The hotel had skin cells and streptococcus--a bacteria can cause strep throat.

"We didn't find anything else but yet we still have a potentially harmful bacteria," she says.

As for the Pike's pillow, both Cortes and Brent were shocked at the findings.

First they found dust mites crawling around that could cause allergies.

"When my daughter is home from college she has quite a bit of allergies," says Brent.

Then it was mold found in soil than can cause allergies and sinus troubles.

"They can create infections, source of food poisoning, produce toxins," she says.

"I didn't think that mold could actually grow on pillows," she says.

Bacteria was also discovered.

"You never think about these things," says Brent.

Now he and probably many of you are thinking about pillows in a whole new light.

"Like I need to buy new pillows," says Brent.

And Doctor Cortes says that's probably the best advice for everyone. If you want to play it safe, pillows have a pretty short life span.

"After three months, get rid of your pillows are get new ones," she says.

90 days per pillow. It may seem costly or even a little overboard but just remember your bug-like bed mates that could be sharing that pillow the next time you lay down.

By the way, the Pike family went out and bought all new pillows. Doctor Cortes says it doesn't matter what kind of pillow you get even the really expensive ones can have bacteria if they are old enough. She also says washing your pillows often and using anti-mite protectors are a good idea.