Bed bugs have been in the news a lot recently. There is hardly a month that goes by without another widespread infestation reported often centering on major city centers like New York. These bloodsucking creatures are back, and in quantities amounting to a plague.
Bed bugs are a real threat. Some journalists argue that feeding the paranoia sends a panic among citizens. Others point to very real statistics that show a 70% increase in bed bug infestations reported in the U.S.
After a ban on the pesticide DDT bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) are increasing. A worldwide scourge throughout human history, insects, fleas and lice are regular nightly bedfellows. Don’t let the bedbugs bite! – Is based in reality before the Second World War, life, if bugs were found frequently in the beds U.S. in the 1930 people would wallpaper their room with wallpaper laced with arsenic to kill insects. Development of DDT-based insecticides after the war were helpful in eradicating bedbugs.
The discovery of DDT cancer risk to humans and deadly threat to wildlife lead to it being banned in 1970. Until mid 1990, bed bug infestations in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the surface of western Europe multiplied and spread. Since mid 1990, the number of reported infestations have almost doubled each year. London bed bug infestations have risen tenfold since 1996. Last year bedbug infestations in all states in the U.S. and reports are exponentially every year. This is the plague of the 21st century.
Scientists have not established a single cause for the spread of bed bugs, but a combination of factors, including ease of international travel, the lack of potent insecticides, and the discovery of pesticide resistant bed bugs . The size of an apple seed, wingless insects active at night, hiding in small cracks and crevices of mattresses and beds in the area and come at night to feed on human blood. Females lay 500 eggs, usually during the period of six to 12 months. The eggs hatch in four to 12 days and the larvae begin feeding to reach the adult stage in about a month. Three or more generations may occur in a year. Easy to transport, insects often used to enter a house on clothing, or rental of furniture. They spread by multi-unit properties such as apartments and hotels through air ducts, electrical and plumbing pipes and wall cavities. New York has recently launched a public awareness campaign, in case of serious infestations of bugs associated with the immigrant community in selling second-hand mattresses.
Sometimes the power of suggestion in delusional parasitosis or Ekbom syndrome, in which real environmental elements such as static electricity, severe itching of dry skin because the perceived harm caused by insects. Bleeding welts and scratching can only serve to validate victims claims of an insect infestation. Most incidents are the seasonal fluctuations in humidity caused by the operation of heating or air conditioning systems.
For those who really have to do bed bugs, the experience can be traumatic. Bites leave red itchy welts. While scientists assure us that bedbugs are a nuisance pest and do not transmit diseases, while we sleep they nibbled enough to send many of the victims screaming from their beds. New technologies such as Cryonite freezes and kills insects and eggs with the carbon dioxide vapor is not toxic. But if the bed bugs bite, most people panic.
So then, how do you know if you have bed bugs? Read more here at howdoyouknowifyouhavebedbugs.com to find out all you need to know…
Leave a Reply