Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite-Pest On The Rise This Year

According to the 2010 Comprehensive Global Bed Bug Study, there has been an 81 percent increase in calls regarding bedbugs since 2000. The study was conducted by the National Pest Management Association partnering with the University of Kentucky.  Their findings reported that 67 percent of the 1,000 pest management companies they surveyed have done at least one treatment for bedbugs in a hotel or motel.

Bed bugs are most commonly found in hotels and motels but reports have shown that 90 percent of the pest control experts surveyed have treated for these insects in apartments, condos, and single-family dwellings. The insect can travel to travel to multiple units in connected dwellings via electrical wiring, plumbing and adjoin walls.

The increase of bed bug reports has been pinned to the increase in human travel.    The bugs can easily hide in personal belongings or luggage after staying in infested lodging thus bringing the pest into your home upon return from travelling.  Also, bed bugs require very little to survive and can live for over 6 months without eating. They can hide in small cracks and crevices, bed frames, box spring, furniture, and mattresses and schedule their feeding times when the host is asleep.

Although bed bugs do not transmit any diseases to humans, their bites may itch or cause an allergic reaction to some people. The initial bite is painless thus resulting in many people being unaware of any infestations. Some signs of bed bug infestation can include several small bites on the same area of the body and blood spots on bed sheets.

Inspect all bed sheets, linens, and furniture for signs of infestation and keep all travel gear on hard surfaces at a hotel until the room has been thoroughly inspected.  If clothes have sightings of bed bugs, they should be washed in hot water and all storage for the clothes should be vacuumed.

Bedbugs are difficult to treat without the appropriate techniques and tools and can quickly spread with each female producing up to 200 eggs in about 9 months.  Pro Pacific can inspect a property for bed bugs and provide the extensive treatment needed to clear your home from these pests.