Beware: Bedbugs Are Back!

After a friend recently bought a secondhand mattress, she began breaking out with tiny red spots around her neck. Her doctor attributed it to stress, until while changing the bedding one day she realized the used mattress was full of bedbugs! I've heard reports of the resurgence of bedbugs in the U.S. and this hit just a little too close to home. None of us here knew much about bedbugs, especially how they spread, so the perpetual student in me demanded that I learn about these vile critters. I'm passing this information on to you so you will also be informed, and perhaps the increase in bedbug infestations can be reduced.

What Are Bedbugs?

Bedbugs are small, wingless insects with flat, teardrop-shaped bodies. They can range in color from dark brown to white (after molting) and any color in between. These bloodsucking parasites are most active at night but will come out in the daytime if they're hungry. Their bite is similar in appearance to a mosquito bite, and while they aren't know to spread disease, the bite can be extremely itchy and create a secondary bacterial infection if the victim scratches at it. An extremely sensitive individual may develop welts or a small, hard, white lump at the bite site.

Bedbugs Don't Only Live In Bedding!

Their favorite hiding places are in the box springs, mattress, and frame of your bed, but will also live in your upholstered furniture, the fold of draperies, clutter in the room, wicker furniture, corners of drawers, or any tiny crack or crevice. They may crawl up walls to hide behind picture frames or in ceiling molding. Even when the offending mattress, box spring, and bedframe are eliminated, the house may still be infested. Bedbugs may leave tell-tale signs such as brown or red spots (fecal matter) or cast-off skeletons; a severely infested house may have a coriander-like odor. These signs may show a previous infestation, although not an active one. The only real sign is to actually see the bugs themselves.

How Are Bedbugs Spread?

You don't have to have a dirty home to have bedbugs. The parasites can also be carried on clothing, and a visitor to your home could possibly leave a few of the offending insects behind. You may have carried bedbugs home in your suitcase from your stay at an upscale hotel that is infested. A coworker may drop a bedbug off his clothing into the common work area to be picked up on another's clothing. They may enter your home in used furniture or boxes of used goods. This last possibility has made me especially vigilant as I sort through my abandoned treasures!

How To Deal With A Bedbug Infestation

Before you start burning your mattresses and furniture, realize that the bedbugs may be present in any room of your house. Your first step in eliminating the problem is to contact a pest control expert for advice. A serious bedbug problem is going to require professional help! There are other bugs that closely resemble bedbugs, and an experienced pest control expert can identify the problem insect correctly. He can advise you on the proper steps to take to eliminate the bedbugs, depending upon how serious the infestation appears to be.

Before dousing your home with toxic chemicals, he may recommend that you cover your mattress and box springs in a special plastic cover (or discard them) and vacuum the entire house thoroughly, paying particular attention to any tiny cracks or crevices in floors, baseboards, ceiling moldings, and walls. Follow his advice carefully, since serious bedbug infestations can be difficult to treat successfully.

How To Keep Bedbugs At Bay

You can keep bedbugs from entering your home with careful observation. Hotels are easy targets for infestations, since so many people come and go. Guests may carry bedbugs from their own home or another hotel and leave the parasites behind after their stay. When you check into any hotel, even the most posh establishment, take time to check the bedding for tell-tale signs. Notify the hotel staff immediately if you notice tiny red or brown spots on the bedding, discarded skins, and especially if you see the bugs themselves!

Any dwelling place that has a high turn-over rate is at higher risk for bedbug infestation than a single-family home. Not only hotels, but motels, dormitories, prisons, shelters, apartment complexes, and other such residences are at risk. The quality of housekeeping isn't usually the issue, but the large number of people moving in and out who may carry bedbugs or their eggs in on their clothing or in their belongings.

When you buy secondhand furniture, or it's given to you, carefully inspect it before bringing into your home. Used furniture can carry not only bedbugs, but fleas and other nasties, and may carry eggs that will hatch later even if you don't see live bugs. Don't purchase any furniture that shows signs of a previous infestation, since there may still be unhatched eggs. If you happen to get the furniture home first before noticing that it may be infested, leave it in the garage or other covered space outdoors while you vacuum it thoroughly and treat it with appropriate pesticides.

While I generally don't promote the use of chemical pesticides, sometimes they are a necessary evil. Be sure to handle the pesticides according to the manufacturer's directions and keep them away from pets and kids. Personally, I would find even a potential infestation so distasteful that I would not permit the furniture in my own home anyway.

Avoid using secondhand mattresses, which are probably the most common way bedbugs get into a home. Better safe than sorry, and as much time as we spend in bed we are better off buying a new, high-quality mattress anyway. If you do choose to accept a secondhand mattress from a family member or friend, inspect it carefully before bringing it into your home!

As for guests entering your home, you can't always know what the state of their own home is, and remember that bedbug infestations have nothing to do with a dirty home anyway. You can't very well ask your guests if they have bedbugs before letting them in the door! Your best bet is to pass on your knowledge of the resurgence of bedbugs in a conversational way, so they will also be informed and aware of the signs of infestation.

I'll admit it could be difficult to work bedbugs into a normal conversation! But knowledge is power, and your friends may pass the information on to others, so eventually the resurgence of bedbugs may be halted.