Bed Bugs Infecting Colleges, Hotel and Homes
Bed Bugs Infecting Colleges, Hotel and Homes
The entire country is experiencing a rise in bed bugs; from San Francisco to New
York City and from Seattle to Boca Raton, no city is safe from these little
blood suckers. Cleanliness doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not a
building or home will have bed bugs, however, eliminating clutter will help to
eliminate bed bugs sooner. This article will provide you with some information
on bed bugs so that if you or anyone you know has a bed bug problem you will be
able to remedy the situation.
Sometimes people mix up dust mites with bed bugs. Dust mites are can’t be seen
with the naked eye whereas bed bugs are about the size of an apple seed. Bed
bugs will be in the seams of a mattress, not inside; although if the mattress
has a tear in it, bed bugs will take cover inside. You will also be able to find
them in the frame of your bed and box spring, look particularly in any folded
areas or where there is stitching. Bed bugs will also leave behind brown to
black stains; they may even be red if the bed bugs were crushed.
About sixty percent of us are allergic to the saliva excreted from bed bugs. The
little red bumps they leave behind are our bodies reaction to there saliva. The
bites are typically very itchy and are sometimes mistaken for mosquito bites.
These itchy inflamed bites are an indication that you may have bed bugs. This is
good in a way because you can take immediate action to rid your home of these
horrible bugs. For those who are not allergic to bed bug saliva, these creatures
can go undetected for longer spans of time and an infestation is a high
probability.
How did you bring bed bugs into your home? They can be brought into your home by
way of your child’s backpack, your purse, or if you were recently on a vacation,
your suitcase. Purchasing used furniture or mattresses, especially from the
classified section of your local newspaper is also a way for bed bugs enter your
home. If you live in an apartment, you may end up infesting the entire building.
The same thing happens with hotels and college dorm rooms; once bed bugs infest
one room they can easily spread throughout the entire hotel or building. Just
this past year, a hotel in Harrisburg, PA was closed due to a bed bug
infestation. The inspectors ended up becoming infested with bed bugs while doing
an examination of the hotel. If you think only dingy hotels get infested think
again. Four and five star hotels in Waikiki, Hawaii have also been infested with
these pests.
If your home or building becomes infected with bed bugs, immediate action needs
to be taken to kill them. If you are weary of using harsh chemical sprays, you
now have the option of choosing an all natural product. Diatomaceous earth is a
white powder made from the crushed fossils of diatoms. As bed bugs and other
pests travel through it they basically cut themselves up and bleed to death. DE
is very effective in getting rid of bed bugs and keeps future infestations from
happening again.
By: Bradley Skierkowski