Bed bugs: how to recognize them, remedies for bites and how to avoid infestations

Bed bugs: let's find out what these insects are, how to recognize them easily and avoid infestations in the house

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

Bed bugs. What are? How to recognize them? Are they dangerous? How to avoid infestations?

Tiny, tiny pests that can sneak into your bedroom. If they bite, bed bugs cause small red spots and itchiness, but are they dangerous? What are bed bugs specifically and how to counteract an infestation?

They keep themselves hidden during the day and go out at night, when to eat they go in search, alas, of their own our blood. bed bugs they are small, oval in shape like all types of bedbugs, brownish in color. Adult bedbugs have flat bodies the size of an apple seed. After sucking blood, however, their bodies swell and become reddish in color.

Bedbugs don't fly, but they can move quickly across floors, walls, and ceilings.

Read also: Bedbugs are ready to enter your house, tricks and more effective tips to remove them

Index

What are bed bugs

From the Cimicidae family, the bed bug (Cimex lectularius Latreille) is a species of obligate blood-sucking ectoparasitic insect of humans and other warm-blooded animals. Also called "mattress bugs", they are therefore gods small blood-sucking insects, which tend to live in the bedrooms and sting at night, because they are attracted by the heat that is created in the rooms during the night and by the carbon dioxide exhaled by those who stay there.

Bed bug bites do not transmit any disease, but they do cause itching and discomfort, as they can cause redness on the skin surface ea pruritus.

Bedbugs are found in temperate and tropical climates around the world. Insects are most commonly found in homes, including hotels and hospitals. Bedbugs generally hide in the seams and crevices of bed mattresses and box springs, bed frames, headboards, upholstery, old furniture, wardrobes, and in spaces under baseboards or behind paper. loose wallpaper. In addition, bedbugs can be transported from one place to another with used luggage, furniture, clothes and mattresses. Although often associated with unsanitary living conditions, bed bug infestations also occur in clean, well-kept accommodations, including five-star hotels and resorts.

Bed bug infestations have been increasingly reported in hotels, dorms, homes, apartments, nursing homes, cruise ships, shelters, prisons and hospitals. Before World War II, bed bug infestations were much more common, however, after the widespread introduction of DDT use in the mid-XNUMXth century, bed bug infestations became much less frequent. The recent resurgence of bed bug infestations around the world is thought to be related to several factors, including increased international travel, dense urban living conditions, insecticide resistance, and new and ineffective pest control measures.

How to recognize bed bugs

Adult bed bugs are the size of a lentil or apple seed. Oval and flat, they are more or less 5 millimeters long and have a red-brown color. Over the course of their life (they have an average life span of about 9 months), females can lay up to 500 eggs, each about one millimeter long, coated with a sticky, whitish or almost transparent substance.

When the eggs hatch, the small bugs reach the adult stage in about six weeks, after 5 stages they become nymphals and as they grow they take on an increasingly dark amber or rust color.

Bed bugs live out of direct light and hide in hidden spots. Their food is human blood, which they suck in through a pointed anatomical organ.

Beyond the classic bite, the presence of bed bugs can be recognized through two clues:

• presence of fecal stains - on the sheets or other furnishing accessories of the bed, you may see small drops with sharp edges

• presence of exuviae - or the hard coating on their body that insects lose as they grow Each bedbug changes its coating at least five times over the course of its life
• presence of white spots, which can be bed bug eggs just opened

Bed bug bites and what to do if you get stung

A bed bug bite usually manifests itself with reddish wheals tend to be in series and aligned accompanied by an intense pruritus (the itching is due to the allergic reaction to some substances with vasodilatory and anticoagulant action introduced into the blood with the saliva of bedbugs).

These effects can also manifest themselves a few days later. Each person can have different reactions, based on the type of hyperimmune response that occurs, the intensity of which varies from subject to subject. The anatomical areas where you are most likely to be affected are the hands, arms, face and neck.

Individuals who get repeated bites over time may have more pronounced symptoms. Some people may also develop scarring or skin infections from intense skin scratching. Rarely, a more severe systemic allergic reaction to a bed bug bite may occur.

The vast majority of the time, bed bug bites can be managed at home. However, if someone starts experiencing any of the following symptoms, it's a good idea to see a doctor or go to the nearest emergency room:

• shortness of breath
• wheezing
• chest pain
• tightness in the throat or difficulty swallowing
• swelling of the tongue or lips
• dizziness or fainting
• itching all over the body
• redness around the site of the bedbug bite
• fever
• some individuals may develop insomnia and anxiety from severe or repeated bed bug infestations

Generally, however, there is no need to worry why itching and spots resulting from bed bug bites tend to disappear on their own within a week without specific treatment. However, if the itching persists or the spots do not convince you, contact a doctor for a possible local cream that will speed up healing.

How to avoid infestation

After that it is good to proceed with the elimination of these small animals to avoid that there is a real infestation:

• take a good look in the cracks in the bed frame or in the cracks in the walls or floor
• look for small black spots between the sheets, which may be bed bug droppings, or patches of blood
• also analyze the possible presence of white or mute spots that could be the hatched eggs
• Also analyze in the cracks in the plaster or behind the loose wallpaper

• if necessary, vacuum the entire bed frame

• wash all potentially contaminated clothing

• wash and dry the laundry at high temperatures

• one grandmother's method is to place soap flakes under the mattress and grease the legs and frame with petroleum jelly to prevent bedbugs from climbing

Follow us on Telegram | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Youtube

We also recommend:

• Aphids: Get rid of yellow lice with these natural plant-saving tricks and remedies
• 5 natural remedies for lice
• Lice resistant to treatments like bacteria: super lice are on their way