Bedbugs: Symptoms, treatment, and removal
Bedbugs may enter your home undetected through luggage, clothing, used beds and couches, and other items. Their flattened bodies make it possible for them to fit into tiny spaces, about the width of a credit card. Bedbugs do not have nests like ants or bees, but tend to live in groups in hiding places. Their initial hiding places are typically in mattresses, box springs, bed frames, and headboards where they have easy access to people to bite in the night.
What are bed bugs?
Bed bugs are tiny insects that live by feeding on human blood, usually at night. They are secretive, hiding in cracks and crevices during the day, and coming out at night to feed. The bite of the bed bug is painless and may or may not leave a red mark or itchiness.
Bedbugs are seen as a growing problem within all types of dwellings, including private homes, dormitories, cruise ships, army barracks, and shelters.
When seen close up, their color may range from a white, light tan to a deep brown or burnt orange color. When they have fed, a dark red or black blob may be observed within their body. They seek shelter in dark cracks and crevices when disturbed Sofas, bed mattresses, clothing, and other soft furnishings.
How do I know whether I have bed bugs?
Bed bugs are small, and come out mostly at night.
Because of their small size and painless bite, bed bugs may initially go unnoticed. If you notice that you are waking up with itchy welts, see tiny red spots on bedding, or think you have seen the bugs, you may have a problem. Bed bugs do not have nests, but will congregate in choice hiding places. These areas may be marked by tiny dark spots and stains, and may have a sweetish odor.
Will bed bugs hurt me?
Fortunately bed bugs are not known to carry any diseases to humans, although some people may experience irritation or allergic reactions to bed bug bites. Mostly bed bugs are considered disgusting and can be a source of stress and concern for people living in infested apartments.
How do bed bugs get into my apartment?
Bed Bug fecal and blood spots look like rust are left on sheets and pillowcases when the engorged bed bugs are crushed. These indicators serve as sure signs of infestation. Bed bugs prefer to hide in cracks and crevices during the daytime and come out to feed on the host’s blood at night, usually while the host is sleeping.
Since bed bugs can flatten their bodies, they fit in very small crevices, specially around the bed area. They are found in habitual hiding places, preferably close to a blood meal. Even though their preference is to be close they can travel several feet for a blood meal.
Initial infestations tend to be around beds, but the bugs eventually become scattered throughout a room, occupying any crevice or protected location. They can also spread to adjacent rooms or apartments.
Bed bugs are occasionally introduced into an apartment via luggage that has become infested from a hotel or hostel. In apartment complexes, it is probably more common for bed bugs to enter a home from a nearby infested apartment, during moving, or through picking up used or recycled furniture or mattresses. Once introduced into an apartment building, bed bugs can readily spread from one infested unit to another.Bed bugs have re-established themselves as a persistent nuisance and a disgusting presence in homes, apartments and hotels. They creep most everyone out, eat us for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and through some sort of bug alchemy, manage to escape the toxic effects of pesticides and live for years until their next blood meal. In the battle of us versus them, we’ve harnessed technology such as vacuum cleaners, washing machines and clothes dryers. Thankfully, we also now have something more sophisticated to address our long-term goal of making bed bugs disappear permanently: genetic sequencing.
beg bug infestations have become a common problem. Although they were often previously associated with overcrowding and dilapidated housing environments, this is no longer the case. They have returned and can be found in the cleanest living accommodations including fine hotels and large apartment buildings.
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