Bedbugs are small, wingless insects that feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals including humans and pets. They live in dark crevices, such as those in mattresses and bed frames. They can also live in other furniture, openings in the floor, or in carpeting. Bed bug bites are often very itchy and the itchiness tends to last longer than mosquito bites. In rare cases, allergic reactions to the bites may cause nausea and illness.
Most bed bugs feed on their hosts while they are asleep. The host supplies them with blood in a painless way, never knowing it is happening. People who have become sensitive to bed bug bites - their saliva - have lesions similar to mosquito or flea bites. Most humans will think they have been bitten by some insect, such as a mosquito, and never realize who the true culprit was. After bedbugs bite, they can hide in a number of out-of-sight places including behind loose wallpaper, electrical switch plates, seams of mattresses and other similar places.
Bedbugs were believed to be eradicated 50 years ago in many countries; but are now re-appearing at an alarming rate. Some believe it's just an issue of awareness having decreased. And now they're invading more than just houses and hotels; latching on to furniture, suitcases, or any number of comfortable surfaces, they've started moving into airplanes, schools, movie theaters, hospitals, and more.
But panic isn't - as it rarely is - the answer. Bedbugs aren't known to carry diseases like other vermin, although they can be a painful nuisance and costly to exterminate, they are not life-threatening.
Handy tips:
. Wash all bedding regularly in hot water. The water should be at least 120 degrees.
. Vacuum floors regularly. Use the brush tool of your vacuum to vacuum your mattress.Use the crevice tool to vacuum crevices in the mattress and your baseboards.
. Check your own bed for bedbugs from time to time. Catching them early will make bedbug treatment easier if bedbugs do occur.
. Look carefully into the creases in the bed linen, and seams and tufts of mattresses and box springs for bugs or eggs.The eggs will look like tiny pale poppy seeds.
. Signs of bed bug activity may exist beneath loose areas of wallpaper near beds, in the corner of desks and dressers, in laundry, and in drawers.
