Bedbugs

What are bedbugs?

Bedbug feeding

Incidence of bedbugs

Symptoms of bedbug bites

Treatment of bedbug bites

Eradication of bedbugs

References

What are bedbugs?

Bedbugs (bed bugs) are small insects that live by feeding on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded animals. They like to live in beds or in the rooms where people sleep. These parasites have been known for thousands of years.

Bedbugs are insects of the family Cimicidae. The most prominent two species are cimex lectularius (the common bed bug) and cimex hemipterus. Adults are reddish-brown, flattened, oval, and wingless. Adults grow to 4-5 mm in length and 1.5-3 mm wide, so are easily visible.

Bedbugs and eggs can be transported in clothing and luggage; furniture; holiday items and knickknacks. Pets and other animals including bats and birds can bring them inside. They can come from nearby dwellings. They can infest nursing homes, furniture rental stores, hospitals, jails, homeless shelters, movie theatres, cruise ships, public housing, moving vehicles, and public transport.

Bedbugs thrive in the same temperatures that humans prefer to live in. However they can survive cold conditions, even freezing temperatures for limited periods. They prefer humid conditions.

Bedbug feeding

Bedbugs, though not strictly nocturnal, are mainly active at night. Their favourite feeding period is about an hour before sunrise, though they have been observed feeding at any time of the day. They are capable of feeding unnoticed on their hosts because they inject a small anaesthetic into the skin.

They are elusive and nocturnal, so it is often difficult to know if you have an infestation. Often the first sign is dark brown or black droppings. You may also see their moults or skins, crushed bugs, or small bloodstains on the sheets. The bites are often in a line of three bites and rarely in the armpit or behind the knee, which may help distinguish them from other insect bites.

They can live for between five months and a year without feeding, depending on the species. Normally they prefer to feed every 5-10 days.

When they feed they inject an anaesthetic in their saliva. The bites cannot usually be felt until some hours or even days later.

Symptoms of bedbug bites

• No visible effect from many or even most bites. (1) Roughly half of all people show no visible signs whatsoever, so often the presence of bedbugs are not detected.
• Redness, skin rash, inflammation and swelling can occur after some hours or take as long as nine days after the bite to appear.
• Bedbug bites can range in size from small spots to prominent wheals.
• Itching can last for several days.
• If the bug is disturbed during its 5 minute feed, it may bite a second or third time, causing a row of 2 or 3 bites.
• Psychological effects. Obsession with removing them, insomnia, anxiety.
• Allergies.
• Asthma can be triggered.

Incidence of bedbugs

In the early 1940's bedbugs were mostly eradicated in the developed world, probably because of the use of potent insecticides. There has been an increase in reported bedbug bites since the 1980s-1990s. (1, 2) Possible reasons include increased foreign travel, especially by people who stay in cheap dormitory type accommodation, more frequent exchange of second-hand furnishings among homes, and increasing resistance to pesticides.

The rise in infestations is difficult to track because bed bugs are not widely reported. Most evidence comes from pest-control companies, local authorities and hotel chains. The problem may be more severe than is currently reported. Some courts have imposed large damages on infested hotels. Bedbugs generally affect cheaper neighbourhoods and accommodation, but in some cities upper class home owners have been afflicted. They tend to keep quiet so as not to affect property values.

Treatment of bedbug bites

The bite is not normally serious, though it can become infected.

You can get relief from itching and swelling by using a warm flannel.

Eradication of bedbugs

• Bedbug detection dogs are trained to pinpoint infestations, and can usually find if there are bedbugs in a dwelling in just a few minutes.
• Many bedbugs have become resistant to insecticides, including DDT. Spraying is often ineffective.
• Heat treating or wrapping mattresses.
• Vacuuming.
• Diatomaceous Earth.
• Eucalyptus oil.
• See details of remedies recommended by Grow Youthful visitors, and their experience with them.

References

1. Jerome Goddard & Richard deShazo. Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) and clinical consequences of their bites. 2009, Journal of the American Medical Association 301 (13): 1358-1366. doi:10.1001/jama.2009.405. PMID 19336711.

2. Kolb A, Needham GR, Neyman KM, High WA. Bedbugs. 2009, Dermatol Ther 22 (4): 347-52. doi:10.1111/j.1529-8019.2009.01246.x. PMID 19580578.