You wouldn’t have much of a ‘sleep tight’ if you have bed bug bites at night. The increasing number of infested households has brought about clinical attention. Before, the existence of bed bugs has been associated with poor home sanitation. At present, bed bugs have been found out to build their habitats on furniture or luggage. Not unless you can pinpoint their exact dwelling, pest control might not be effective.

Bed bugs feed on human blood as well as animal blood. It takes an average of 3-15 minutes for a bed bug to suck blood from human flesh especially at night. These bugs do not choose a specific are of your body. They may bite around your hands, arms, neck, torso, and even the face. Fortunately, there has been no sign of disease that may be acquired from bed bug bites.

Mouthparts of bed bugs have two grooves of where they transport their saliva into the skin, and extract blood from the body. There is no distinction of which bed bugs bite, it may either be a male, female, adult, or a nymph. Since bed bugs do not have wings, they mobilize fast on the walls, ceilings, floors, and other surfaces. The average female bed bug can lay 5 eggs a day and 500 eggs during their lifetime.

Possible Complications

More often than not, bed bugs are undetectable. Yet some individuals may be very sensitive to the bites. The redness or swelling of the bites is due the allergy that may develop from the saliva transmitted by bed bugs.

Distinctively, bed bugs produce a sweet odor which is a sign of heavy infestation in your household. Another manifestation of bed bugs is decayed spots or dried blood marks on your sheets. Usually, these spots point to their established dwellings.

People have been worried on the possible disease that bed bugs may transmit. Some medical researchers have associated bites with vector diseases or harmful pathogens bed bugs may carry on their bodies. But both have been proven to be unlikely. With this fact at hand, bed bugs do not pose a critical health threat to humans. Medical attention has been focused on the irritation and inflammation produced from the bites.

Medical Treatment

Treatment is measured depending on the severity of the infection. Usually bed bug bites do not usually necessitate treatment. If itching and inflammation do persist, antibiotic cream or local antiseptic lotion will do the job of curing the infection. But one has to be careful of possible secondary infection. For allergic reactions, it is advised to apply creams with oral antihistamines and corticosteroids.

Control Measures

As previously stated, preventive control measures may not be successful without locating bed bug dwellings first. Once their habitats are properly identified, commercial insecticides are essential for bed bugs elimination. Professional pest control groups may use a variety of aerosols, dusts, and low-odor sprays. Application of pesticides or insecticides is on crack areas or cervices where bugs tend to hide.

Since bats may be a primary hosts for bed bugs, it maybe recommended that bats are excluded from resting on your roofs. In connection to flying animals, be sure to clear your homes of bird’s nesting areas. Important home repairs on wall cracks, doors and windows are also effective preventive measures.

During summer seasons, you may wrap your luggage and clothing with a black plastic bag and position them under the sun. Bed bugs and their nymphs cannot endure extreme temperatures and may eventually die at exposed sun heat. Two to five days of exposure to required heat temperature is sufficient to eliminate bed bugs.