Bed bugs are flat, reddish-brown, oval insects up to 4 to 5 mm long or the size of an apple seed. Bedbugs do not fly, but they can move quickly over floors, walls, and ceilings. The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) has been a pest feeding on blood, causing itchy bites and generally irritating the human hosts. Bedbugs are considered to be a public health pest by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Bedbugs can live anywhere in the home. They can live in cracks in furniture or in any type of textile, including upholstered furniture. They are most common in beds, including the mattress, box springs, and bed frames.
Bedbugs are most active at night. They may bite any exposed areas of skin while an individual is sleeping. Common locations for bedbug bites are the face, neck, hands, and arms. Bed Bugs feed exclusively on blood, and people have various responses to Bed Bug Bites. They feed by piercing the skin and withdrawing blood through an elongated beak. The bugs feed on three to ten minutes to become engorged and then crawl away unnoticed.
Most bedbug bites are painless at first but later turn into itchy welts. Unlike flea bites that are mainly around the ankles, bedbug bites are on any area of skin exposed while sleeping.
Let us now look at the characteristics of bedbugs. Adult bed bugs are light brown to reddish-brown, flattened, oval-shaped, and have no hind wings. The front wings are vestigial and reduced to pad-like structures. Bed bugs have segmented abdomens with microscopic hair that gives them a banded appearance. Adults grow to 4–5 mm long and 1.5–3 mm wide.
Female bedbugs can deposit one to five eggs a day and may lay 200 to 500 eggs in a Bed Bug’s lifetime. Under normal room temperatures and with an adequate food supply, they can live for more than 300 days. Newly hatched nymphs are translucent, light in color, and become browner as they molt and reach maturity. A bed bug nymph of any age that has just consumed a blood meal has a bright red, translucent abdomen, fading to brown over the next several hours, and to opaque black within two days as the insect digests its meal.
Let us look at some recent news articles pertaining to the bedbug menace.
Bed bugs found at two Norfolk schools
March 24, 2017, Norfolk, USA
Bed bugs have been found at two public schools in Norfolk.
Norfolk Public Schools say both incidents involved a single bed bug located in a classroom, happening at Ruffner Academy and Lake Taylor High School.
Bed bugs take over a Denver woman’s apartment
March 20, 2017, Denver, USA
Upon stepping into Elizabeth Trujillo’s apartment in Columbine Towers, it doesn’t take long to notice an infestation.
They’re bed bugs, and they’re crawling everywhere. Trujillo said the problem wasn’t always so visible.
“It’s so bad, “said Trujillo.
The infestation is so bad; the bugs were crawling on Trujillo during Denver7 interview. She says she’s been living in the apartment complex for two years, but the bed bugs issue began about a year and half ago.
“I’m tired of living with bed bugs. If they aren’t in my bathtub, they are in my bed and on the floor. They are crawling all over the place,” said Trujillo.
Bedbugs invade school for the deaf in Koforidua
March 19, 2017, Koforidua, Ghana
The Koforidua School for the deaf has been hit by bedbug infestation.
Starr News sources say the pupils reported the development to the school authorities, prompting a fumigation of the compound. However, the insects have refused to disappear causing discomfort for the school and disturbing pupils in their hostel.
Bedbug re-infestation frustrates residents
March 15, 2017, Glasgow, Scotland
Camilla Marshall has scars spotting her arms from an infestation of bedbugs that affected several apartments last May in the Woodbine Crest Seniors Complex where she lives in New Glasgow.
Marshall was upset to learn last week that bedbugs had been spotted once again in her complex, albeit in a different section of the building. She said this is the third time bedbugs have been reported in recent years in the complex, adding it’s frustrating to her and other residents.
The Eastern Mainland Housing Authority did treat the affected apartment this time, but Marshall said it still concerns her. She lost a lot when her apartment was impacted last year. She believes the bugs got into her apartment on a piece of furniture another resident had given her.
That gift ended up costing her much more than she expected.
“I lost my headboard, footboard, box spring, mattress, book case, chesterfield and a $800 Lazy Boy chair,” she said.
She estimates she lost about $3,000 from the ordeal, but wasn’t given any compensation.
So how do we get rid of them? Regular pest control is considered to be one of the solutions. However the use of toxic insecticides is now proving to be futile in getting rid of these nasty little creatures. A 2013 study in the journal Nature Scientific Reports suggested that bedbugs have evolved ways to resist insecticides.
So is there any other effective solution for this problem? Yes, there is.
Termirepel ™, an anti-insect additive, a C Tech Corporation product is an ideal solution for the prevention and control of bedbug infestation. It follows 6 pronged strategy which is extremely effective in preventing the damage caused by bedbugs as well as insects like ants, beetles, grasshopper, termites etc. Termirepel ™ is a nontoxic and nonhazardous insect repellent. It is thermally stable and does not degrade on exposure to heat and sunlight. It does not kill or harm the insect but repels them.
It is RoHS, RoHS2, REACH, ISO, APVMA compliant and FIFRA exempted. The product in the form of liquid concentrate can be blended in any paint or organic solvent and can be applied to the various surfaces vulnerable to damages caused by bedbugs like the walls, ceiling etc. Termirepel ™ lacquer can also be used as a coating for furniture for protection. The masterbatch of Termirepel ™ can be incorporated in wires and cables which are used in domestic wiring.