Bed Bug Facts: What You Should Know
The Truth About Bed Bugs
The term “bed bug” (or “bedbug”) is a misnomer. Bed bugs do not come from beds; they are transferred by people. Bed bugs received their name because after they have traveled from one person to another, they make their home close to their food source (sleeping humans), in bedding and furniture.
People can acquire bed bugs at hotels, motels, and bed-and-breakfasts when staying in a room previously occupied by persons suffering from an infestation. Travelers bring the bed bugs in their luggage from their infested homes into a hotel, where the bugs stay in the bedding and furniture and then invade the luggage of the next guest, and so on. If a person is subjected to a severe bed bug infestation, bed bugs may actually pass from person to person by casual contact.
Bed bugs can also travel between units in multi-unit dwellings (such as condominiums and apartment buildings). This depends on degree of infestation, on the material used to partition units (concrete is a more effective barrier to the spread of the infestation), and whether or not infested items are dragged through common areas while being disposed of.
Bed bug infestations easily spread in places with a high volume of people traffic, such as in apartment or condominium buildings, hotels, taxis, hospitals, and more recently, movie theaters and clothing stores.
Getting rid of bed bugs can be difficult once an infestation is established. Hiring a professional bed bug exterminator is highly recommended.
Identifying a Bed Bug Problem
Adult bed bugs are small, ranging from 1/32” to 3/16” in length. Pictures show them to be light yellow in color, although they turn very dark red after feeding. Since bed bugs are very flat, they can hide in tiny crevices.
Bed bugs are parasitic creatures, similar to ticks or lice. They feed on human blood, generally at night while the host is sleeping, or when a room is darkened by curtains. According to the Mayo Clinic, during the day, they tend to stay out of the light, hidden in places such as mattress seams, mattress interiors, bed frames, nearby furniture, carpeting, baseboards, or bedroom clutter. They can also be found in a wide variety of locations in a home, such as behind baseboards, behind a picture frame, within books (near the bed), in telephones or radios near the bed, and within the folds of curtains.
Bed bugs are capable of traveling as far as 100 feet to feed, but usually remain close to the host, close to where people may sleep. Even a single female bed bug brought into a home has the potential for reproduction.
The University of Minnesota describes the primary signs of a bed bug problem as dark red or brown blood spots or smears on sheets and bedding. Bed bug bite symptoms include bites that look like flat welts or raised red bumps in a unique row or cluster pattern.
