Bed bugs are back. Many of us didn't even know they were real. They'd all but vanished from the United States after the 1950s, when saturating an infected home with DDT was a common (and quite effective) practice. But DDT has been on the no-no list for some time now. That and a steady increase in international travel are the most probable sources for the steady rise in bed-bug infestation, especially in large cities, over the last 10 years or so.

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Photo courtesy CDC
Bed bug, a.k.a. Cimex lectularius
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Bed bugs that feed on humans, or Cimex lectularius, have been around pretty much forever. There are other bed-bug variations that prefer animal hosts, such as birds or bats. They're called "bed bugs" because they eat primarily while their host is asleep, so the host's sleeping area (whether that's a bed or a nest) is the most common area for the tiny insects to feed, hide, and lay their eggs (up to five a day). But couches, upholstered chairs, bed frames, cracks in walls and molding, piles of clothing, ceiling holes for light fixtures and pretty much any dark, protected area is game for bed-bug housing. They tend to prefer wood to metal, generally speaking. The full-grown adults are only a quarter-inch (0.64 cm) long and fairly flat, so they can slip into almost any space. The youngest ones are hardly visible to the naked eye.


Photo courtesy CDC

Cimex lectularius range in color from tan to orangish-brown, and they have no wings, so bed bugs can't fly at all; they can only crawl from surface to surface. If you find bed bugs hiding, say, behind a picture frame, they will scurry very quickly to another hiding place -- they're quick, agile and adaptable. The bug has an oval-shaped outer shell through which you can often see their hosts' blood as a dark spot beneath the surface. Like many other insects, they insert a syringe-like "mouth" extension into the host's skin. Bed bugs don't really have a body-part preference -- they'll target any piece of exposed skin. It can take anywhere from three to 10 minutes for the bug to fill up, and the host seldom wakes up while being bitten. Their bite is more annoying than truly harmful, as bed bugs have never been known to transmit diseases to humans. But when they pierce the skin with their beak to draw blood, they release some of their saliva into the broken skin, and over time, repeated exposure to this saliva can result in an allergic reaction to the bites. This mostly means more itchiness and swelling than you find with a typical mosquito bite, and some anti-histamine and anti-inflammatory over-the-counter drugs are usually all you need to fix the discomfort. Some people don't react to the bites or saliva exposure at all.

There are a few known possible causes of bed-bug infestation, including picking up the bugs while traveling and carrying them home in or on a suitcase or clothing, and bringing in a piece of used furniture that has bed bugs living inside it. Also, if the apartment next to you has bed bugs, any wiring holes or cracks in the walls can let them into your home, too. Adult bed bugs can live up to a year without a meal, so there's no guarantee that the new apartment you move into that's been vacant for six months will be free of the little guys. Having bed bugs isn't about filth at all -- bed bugs feed on blood, not trash. The most immaculate home can end up with bed bugs. However, a messy home does offer more places for bed bugs to hide, so cleaning up the clutter is one of the first steps to getting rid of a bed-bug problem, which is not an easy task.

The first step is to confirm that what you have in your home are actually bed bugs. Their bites look a lot like mosquito bites, so you (or an insect-finding professional) need to actually find one of the offending bugs and compare it to a good picture of a bed bug before you start planning for eradication. (Check out University of Kentucky Entomology: Bed Bugs for a good image source.) Another positive finding is rust-colored bed-bug droppings and molted shells in the creases of your sheets, the seams of your mattress or wherever the bugs are calling home.

Once you know you actually have bed bugs, the eradication process begins. It's not simple, and you will almost definitely want to call a professional pest-killer, preferably one with experience in dealing with bed bugs. They are tiny and wily, and the most effective pesticides against bed bugs are no longer deemed safe, so exterminators must use a combination of less effective options in order to successfully rid your home of the little parasites. A few of the treatments for bed bugs include:

  • Extended exposure to temperatures above 120 F (49 C) or below 32 F (0 C)
  • Heavy-duty vacuuming of all carpets, upholstered furniture and cracks in wood and molding
  • Laundering affected textiles (clothing, bedding, etc.)
  • Sealing an infected mattress in plastic (to suffocate the bugs)
  • Dust insecticides, often containing ground glass or silica powder, that act as abrasives and drying agents to slowly kill the bugs
  • Contact insecticides that kill instantly, often containing pyrethoids or chlorfenapyr
  • Insecticides that damage bed bugs' ability to reproduce but don't necessarily kill them (insect growth regulators)
  • Fumigation of the entire structure using poisonous gas

Traditional baits and traps don't work for this type of bug, so clearing your house of the infestation will require effort. You don't necessarily have to get rid of your bed or couch if that's where they've decided to call home, since heat or suffocation might get rid of the problem. But discarding those items might be the way to go if you actually want your home free of bed bugs, not just free of live bed bugs. If you do get rid of infested furniture, don't just put it on the curb where anyone with a pickup could grab your pretty couch and end up with his own bed-bug problem. It's best to put it in a dumpster or at least deface it in some way that will stop people from wanting to take it home.

For more information on bed bugs and related topics, check out the following links: