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Human bed bugs are found all over the world and are constantly being dispersed via used furniture, luggage and bedding. During the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the number of bed bug infestations reported from homes, resort hotels, apartments and cruise ships.
The challenge is to correctly identify bed bugs, prevent their spread, and eliminate bed bugs from housing units. We want you to understand the symptoms of bed bug bites, how to prevent bed bugs and how to get rid of bed bugs if you do get infested.
Immature bed bugs are light yellow in color unless they have recently fed on blood and then they are darker in the middle. Adults are reddish brown and they also turn darker after a blood meal. Even though bed bugs are small, about 1/5th of an inch, they can be readily seen with the naked eye. They are wingless, oval and flattened in appearance and crawl at a steady rate.
Bed bugs are active at night when they leave their daytime resting place deep inside cracks and crevices to seek out human blood. Adult male and female bed bugs, as well as nymphs (young), feed on blood. By checking the bed linen in the middle of the night you have the best opportunity to find bed bugs on the move. Bed bug bites are normally two or three in a row and often blood spots are deposited on the sheeting. Any nearby crack or crevice can serve as a daytime refuge for bed bugs. Look for bed bugs under folds in mattresses, along seams and in between bedposts and bed slats. When large numbers of bed bugs are present, they produce a distinctive pungent odor. Numerous dark fecal spots on linen or near cracks are another indication of a bed bug infestation.
Bed bugs should be collected into small leak-proof containers of rubbing alcohol. Bed bug specimens should be sent to a knowledgeable expert for positive identification. Dr. Richard Pollack at the Harvard School of Public Health can identify bed bugs sent in from Harvard University.
After feeding, a female bed bug will lay eggs in their daytime refuge of cracks and crevices. An immature bed bug may take several months to mature to an adult and an adult bed bug can live for up to one year. During development, the young bed bug will feed frequently on the blood of humans and they can exist for many months between blood meals. Bed bugs inject saliva into the blood stream of their host to thin the blood and to prevent coagulation. It is this saliva that causes the intense itching and welts. The delay in the onset of itching gives the feeding bed bug time to escape into cracks and crevices. In some cases, the itchy bites can develop into painful welts that last several days. The good news is that this insect is not known to transmit human disease.
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